The Chieftain Trials
by TheHTTYDexpert
Summary: Hiccup Haddock knew he wouldn't be a perfect Chieftain after the death of his father, but when the odds stack against him, he must prove his worth to Berk and more importantly, himself. Taking him into new dangers like he has never faced before. With new enemies who kill without mercy and the return of scornful foes, Hiccup and Berk itself will be tested like never before.
1. The Spark To Light The Fire

Hiccup ran as fast as he could to Silent Sven's sheep pen, his metal leg digging holes in the soft ground. Running past a Monstrous Nightmare who was chewing contentedly on a cart full of apples, Hiccup ducked under a Deadly Nadder who flew past shooting fire at him, he could feel the heat coming from the flame as it missed him by mere inches. Not slowing down he looked around frantically trying to make sense of the dragon attack, one of many in the past few weeks, but definitely the most aggressive.

Since Drago left, a rouge dragon raid was happening every few days, and they was getting worse every time. The dragons becoming more vicious and desperate as the winter months drew closer. Running through the ashes of a fallen house, Hiccup stopped short when he heard a furious scream, turning towards the Great Hall he saw a man raise an axe over dazed Gronckle. "Stop!! Do not hurt that dragon, killing it won't make the other dragons stop, it will only make them angrier. Go help secure Silent Sven's sheep in the Great Hall while I check on the Gronckle." Hiccup said running out of the smoldering house to check on the dragon, kneeling down beside it. The man, angered with the loss of his kill, glared at Hiccup before looking around for other Vikings. With his back turned, Hiccup failed to see the man slowly start towards Hiccup, raising his axe high in the air. The Gronckle shook its head, coming out of its daze before turning to snarl at the attacking Viking, showing its teeth and crouching down.

The Viking let out a yell as he held up his shield just in time as the dragon shot a lava blast straight towards him, Hiccup ducked to the ground covering his head with his hands. The blast threw bits of lava and rock everywhere, the bulk of the mass slammed into his wooden shield reducing it to a smoldering heap of wood and bent metal, the man was propelled backwards off his feet and thrown to the dusty ground as the Gronckle flew off. Hiccup stood up and ran over to the man, oblivious to what just really happened. He held out his hand but the man just slapped it aside shakily standing to his feet himself, he snarled looking around seeing his broken axe lying on the ground. Leaning against the broken wall of a hut he pointed to the sky at the dragons.

"These dragons are not holding back on trying to kill us, and if we hope to have any chance against them, we need to fight back with the same aggressiveness as they shpw." He stopped and gripped his side groaning in pain lurching to the right nearly falling over before regaining his composure, "A-And you and your dragons will be the spark for the fire, and I'm just going to watch you burn." The man stalked off limping with every step, a look of hatred on his scarred face before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Hiccup stood there in shock, his face as blank as stone, he put him hand to his neck almost feeling a tingling sensation. He turned stepping over a fallen beam lying on the ground in fiery embers, he slowly continued to Sven's hut. He had to stop Vikings multiple times from killing or injuring dragons and he put all the injured ones in the Dragon Hangar to help later, but by the time he got to Sven's, the attack was over and Berk had already begun to clean the mess. Astrid and Eret had already started moving the sheep back from the Great Hall to the pen by the time he came in sight. Astrid saw him coming over the crest of the hill and stormed up to meet him, coming to stand in front of him glaring angrily at him, "Where have you been?" She asked putting her hands on her hips, Hiccup sighed and leaned against a fence post.

"Everywhere, mainly stopping Vikings from killing dragons. Most seemed to listen and wanted to prevent the attack peacefully, but one didn't take it too well. A man was going to kill a downed Gronckle, he didn't even try to listen to me, then the dragon attacked him and he wouldn't even let me help him off the ground." Eret walked over with two sheep resting in his hands, both of which were chewing lazily on bits of grass. "What Viking? I'll be glad to show him how we hunters deal with treason, point the way Chief." Astrid grabbed a sheep from him and threw it into the pen, "Eret, you're not a hunter anymore, your a Rider. And we do things a little differently on Berk, besides, I'm sure it was nothing. Right Hiccup?" She looked around to see him looking worriedly at the ground, she looked from Eret back to Hiccup. "R-Right?"

Hiccup glanced up and saw her looking, he quickly forced a grin and smiled warmly at her. "Oh, yeah. Sure, it's just one unhappy Berkian, not everyone feels like that." Eret raised an eyebrow and threw the last sheep in the pen. "Well, you're the Chieftain. I just gather sheep when the sheep need gathering, by the way, where's Sven?" At that exact moment Sven crawled out from under his hut holding a baby sheep which was covered in dirt. Astrid walked over and helped him up, the dirty sheep jumping into her arms. "Uh, Sven. What were you doing under your hut?" She said holding the squirming sheep away trying to not get dirty. "Well, when the dragons attacked I tried putting them all into the my hut and put them in bed, but this one ran away! I followed it under my hut and only just now caught up to it. It wasn't because I was scared and didn't want to get eaten..."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and took the sheep from Astrid throwing it into the pen with the others. "Okay... well, we're going to go and check on the rest of the village, are you and your sheep okay now?" Sven looked into the pen and counted them all, he turned back smiling, "All my sheepies are okay, they just get so scared after these dragon raids." He picked one up and rubbed noses with it, talking to it in a baby voice. "Don't you? Yes you do! Yes you do!" Eret backed away as Sven started to dance with it. "Is he always like this?" He looking strangely at Hiccup who laughed, "No, he's usually worse. Come on, let's go check on the rest of the village."

They found the other Riders helping repair the Great Hall with a few other Vikings. Tuffnut saw them walking over and called out to Hiccup, "Hey! Get over here and look at our genius new defenses!" Hiccup looked warily as Astrid who simply shrugged. Walking over he could see Ruffnut placing a huge statue that looked like a hunched over troll on the base of the steps. Astrid put her hand to her face and Eret raised an eyebrow, Tuffnut pulled Hiccup over and spread his hands proudly, "I'm calling them, 'Scare Troll'! They will scare the dragons away so we don't have to worry about attacks anymore!"

Hiccup watched unamused as Ruffnut finally pushed it up when it wobbled back and forth before falling off and shattering into hundreds of pieces. Tuffnut looked appalled before shrugging slapping Hiccup on the back, "That's okay, we have hundreds more. All in different shapes, sizes and faces." Hiccup sighed and walked over to Ruffnut, the grass being charred where he stood. "Ruff, Tuff. I need you to go and get some salt water from the oven and take it to the Hangar to check for any Grimoras from the rouge dragons we captured, maybe that's why they are attacking." Tuffnut jumped between them and tapped his head. "Hey H, did we ever figure out if Grimoras would work on humans? I'd love to be able to go on a mindless killing spree and be able to blame it on something!" Hiccup stared at him shocked as they started to argue while Ruffnut started walking over to Eret, who grew a strange face when she started swinging her hips and hair making kissing faces at him.

Astrid watched from the side trying not to laugh as Valka came to stand beside her, "What's going on lass? And what is that poor girl doing." Astrid laughed as Ruffnut jumped on Eret grabbing onto his shoulders as he walked away, he feet dragging behind her. "I'm not sure, but Hiccup is arguing whether or not Grimoras work on humans." She said smiling warmly at him, Valka looked between the two and smiled herself. Hiccup turned towards Ruffnut, who was happily letting Eret drag her in circles as she squeezed him tighter around the waist, a look of exasperation on his face. "Ruff, come on. You have to go with Tuff so he doesn't do anything stupid." Ruffnut slowly slid to the ground landing on her face as Eret shoved her away.

She stood up and stormed off towards Barf and Belch where Tuffnut was already sitting. "Thanks a lot Hiccup, you got in the way of true love, again! Just don't expect me to bring you gifts at your wedding!" She and Tuffnut flew away heading for the Hangar as Fishlegs and Snotlout continued to repair the stones that were broken. Hiccup waved them over leaning on the Scare Troll, "Fishlegs I need you and Gobber to keep working on repairs around the village from the ground while Astrid, Eret, and I fly above and help." Fishlegs nodded and went to find Gobber, Meatlug following close behind him. Hiccup looked over to Astrid and Valka talking near by and pulled Snotlout away from them. "Snotlout I need you to go and find Trader Johann and ask him for a map of some place where me and Astrid can go and not be disturbed by anything or anyone. Ok?" Snotlout snorted and wrenched his shoulder from Hiccups hand.

"So you want me to go and search the entire archipelago so you and Astrid can have a date?" Hiccup shushed him with his hand telling him to quiet down. "Yes, I was going to do something with her before while we have the chance, I'd do it myself, but-" Snotlout raised his hand interrupting him, "Yeah yeah, the Chieftian must always stay with his village. Don't expect me any time soon, half the time will probably be filled with his boring stories, but remember. You owe me for this." He said stalking away over to Hookfang. Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned back to find Toothless with Astrid and Eret following closely behind him.

They found their dragons and flew around Berk helping everyone who was in need of it, most of the village was still intact with only a few burnt houses and stalls. Astrid flew over to Hiccup on his right side, the wind blowing her blonde hair behind her. "Hiccup, have you thought about why these attacks are happening? It's not like dragons just decide to attack just because they want to." Hiccup looked over to her admiring her, his eyes staring dreamily at her not paying attention. 'Wow, she really is beautiful' He really was a lucky guy to have her as his betrothed, and he didn't even have to act any different around her, she loved him for who he was. Although since all this has been going on, they haven't had much time to spend with each other. 'It's been too long since we had a flight together, maybe I should-'

"Hiccup! Did you hear me?" Astrid yelled to him jarring him from his thoughts. "Huh? Oh yeah, uhh. That's all I've been thinking about... I think it has something to do with Toothless being the new Alpha. These dragons are coming from all around to see him and they don't know any better." Eret flew beside him to his left still struggling to control Skullcrusher. "Then why do they keep attacking even though they see Vikings riding dragons. Wouldn't that make them stop?" Hiccup pondered this for a moment before running the back of his neck, "Maybe they think we are hurting our dragons or forcing them to help us." Astrid looked down to Stormfly petting the side of her head before shrugging, "Maybe, but we have to get Berk back together before the next attack." Hiccup nodded and started towards the dragon wash, "Ok, we need to get the dragons calmed down and back to their homes before they-" Astrid flew in front of him stopping him midair putting her hand out. Toothless quickly tuned to the side to avoid hitting them, nearly throwing Hiccup off in the process.

Astrid snorted and smiled at him, "Or, we could go to the Forge and gather lumber and metal to rebuild the island huts back so the Vikings have somewhere to go." Hiccup climbed back to the saddle frowning, "But what about the-" Astrid rolled her eyes and interrupted him, "No, I think we are going to do my idea first. I am second in command after all." Hiccup tapped his head starting to get anxious. "Uh, but I'm the Chief..." Toothless made a choking noise and Stormfly squawked eyes going wide. Eret's looked between the two and slowly started to back away, Skullcrusher even looked terrified as Astrid raised her eyebrows and grabbed her axe flying closer to Hiccup, who was beginning to fear for his life.

"Yes, and if the Chief wants to have a happy second in command who also happens to be his betrothed, then you will do what she says. Happy wife, happy life. Hm?" She said pointing the tip of the axe in his face. Hiccup gulped and nervously laughed, "Haha, yeah. Let's- uh, let's go to the forge, whatever you say." Astrid smiled putting her axe back, "Good, glad you agree. See you there." She flew off leaving Hiccup to exhale loudly leaning on Toothless. Eret flew closer to him, a smug look on his face. Hiccup raised an eyebrow looking angrily at him. "What are you looking at?" Eret laughed, "I'm looking at a Chief who I've seen single handedly take on the biggest dragon known to exist, be reminded who the real Cheiftian is by a 5 foot 6 blonde Viking who would make even the Bewilderbeast run in terror with the axe you made her. I love this island!" He said flying off in front of him.

Toothless laughed and Hiccup frowned down at him, "Really, you too? Just be glad you don't have to worry about another NightFury pointing an axe at your face anytime soon." Toothless's smile melted away, he rolled sharply throwing Hiccup off into open air, the wind whipping his hair in his face as he flailed his arms. He screamed as he fell shouting his apologies while Toothless rolled his eyes and dove down to catch him. He flew underneath Hiccup, letting Hiccup fall on his back. Hiccup fell hard on the saddle lopsided. Hiccup quickly shot up and grabbed the handles. "I'm sorry! I won't do it again!!" Toothless smiled smugly and they both flew off to the Forge.


	2. The Beginning Of The End

At the Forge, they got to work distributing the wood and metal to start rebuilding when Gustav and the A-Team came into view on the horizon. Gobber nudged Hiccup the shoulder gesturing to them, "Looks like your replacement is back from patrol at the Edge." Hiccup sighed and put his hand up to shield his eyes. "Gustav is not my replacement. I wasn't even the one who put him in charge of the A-Team. That would be Astrid's decision." Gobber raised an eyebrow and looked over to Astrid who was giving a young girl an axe. He turned to Hiccup and nudged him on the shoulder.

"Hmph. Well, you better get a move on and get married so you can have children. You do plan on having children, right? Heir to the throne and all that?" Hiccup nearly fell to the ground when he heard him, he quickly turned flustered and blushing. "Who- what, why would you- did... did mom put you up to this!?!" Gobber slapped his knee and laughed, "No, but I'm guessing she's been giving you a hard time as well?" Hiccup sighed looking over to Astrid who smiled and waved at him before continuing with her work. "Oh yeah. Every day, but it's not like I don't want to, it's just not the right time. I want all this to settle down before I move in that direction, and I don't see it slowing down for a while." Gobber raised his hands in the air and walked over to Grump, "Alright. Don't mean to pry, but I'm sure it would help, Not make things worse. Now Grump, light the Forge before you let it die... again!" Hiccup sighed watching Astrid walk away as she went to help put the side of a hut back together.

He turned back just as Gustav landed in front of him, "Hey Hiccup, big news. Like get the council together news." Hiccup rolled his eyes and looked over to Gothi who landed beside him, a cloud of dust rose from there she landed. "Gothi, is it seriously that big?" Gothi looked at him with absolute seriousness and slowly nodded. Hiccup grew a look of bewilderment, "What? What is that big?" Gustav hopped off Fanghook looking at Hiccup worriedly. "The Screaming Death destroyed the Edge, we traced its path back and couldn't find an island it hadn't destroyed. And it's headed straight for Berk." Hiccup stood motionless as he calmly waved Gobber over, who was still arguing with Grump. It was a one-sided argument. "Aye, whats wrong lad?" He asked putting his hand on Hiccups shoulder, Hiccup turned to face him and locked eyes with him. "The Screaming Death is destroying the archipelago, and it's headed straight for us as we speak." Gobber put his hand to his head shouting, "Odin's beard, what now then?" Hiccup looked back out on the horizon squinting his eyes. "We get ready, there's nothing else we can do. Reinforce the island and hope we can stand against it." Gobber nodded and started to take off before sharply turning around. "Wait! Who do I tell?" Hiccup turned around and looked around him. "Everyone."

Back at the Great Hall, Hiccup gathered the council to tell them of the threat personally.

"We need to go on a hunt for the dragon, it has threatened Berk too often to let it attack us and go free again." Spitelout said shouting above the screaming crowd, "Spitelout, we can't beat the Screaming Death, we've tried and failed multiple times. We can't just attack it and hope it will show its weakness." Hiccup said sitting in the throne, rubbing his head trying to think out what happened. "Well it's only a matter of time before it comes back to Berk with a grudge against you and the other riders. I say you should finish what you started and at least try to stop it!" The entire council nodded and grumbled in agreement.

Astrid walked into the hall going to stand beside the throne getting back from the forge, glaring directly at Spitelout. "This dragon is beyond beating with force, its in an entire class of its own! Our dragons simply aren't going to be able to stop it with a mindless attack on it. If we want to stop this dragon, it has to be done using something other than brute force." The hall went silent considering what she said, "And how do you suppose we do that? We all know that it is beyond training, and hope that it is possible would be suicide. So I don't see you being able to train it anytime soon." Spitelout said crossing his arms before Hiccup stood and everyone's eyes turned him as he walked to edge of the table placing his hands on it.

"I agree this dragon needs to be stopped with something other than force, but Spitelout is right, this dragon is never going to be trained so we're left with very few options on how to do this. We can't train it, and it can't be stopped with any amount of force we have. We have to outsmart it if we ever want to get rid of it, and for that, I need to think of a plan." The crowd of villagers nodded and started filing towards the door when a man entered the hall from the back entrance, sunlight filling the room and dust flying everywhere. "Or, we could deal with the problem my way!" All eyes turned towards the man as he stepped into the light revealing himself to be Alvin the Treacherous.

"Alvin? What are you doing here?" Hiccup said as Alvin walked up to him, the entire crowd turning back to the table, "After I heard of the death of Stoick, I came as fast as I could to offer my assistance." Hiccup nodded and crossed his arms, "Ok, but the funeral was long ago and you certainly wasn't here to help us with Drago." Alvin held his hands up in defeat, "I don't ask for you to trust me, I only ask to heed my advice." Hiccup stared blankly at him putting his hands on his hips.

"Ok Alvin, what is your way to deal with this?" Alvin smiled eerily grabbing a pint of mead from the table taking a long drink, he cleared his throat and looked at each face surrounding the table. "We fight fire with fire I say. There are few dragons that could possibly rival the Screaming Death, and only one comes to my mind, obviously the Skrill!" The entire hall erupted into chaos as it was filled with Vikings screaming their disapproval.

"The Skrill? Alvin, that dragon is just as temperamental and untrainable as the Screaming Death! How are we supposed to even get near it?" Valka said to him as she stormed up to confront him. "Ah Valka, just as beautiful and fiery as when I last saw you. What was it, 20 years ago? Tell me, what have you done that has earned any of our respect, eh?" Valka's face went red and she clenched her hands while the council looked worriedly between the two locked in a silent war. "In 20 years I changed more than you ever will in your entire life. You will always be Alvin the Treacherous, nothing more, we wouldn't take your advice if the Screaming Death was in the hall with us at this very moment!" She yelled in his face standing as tall as she could.

"Mom, it might be our only hope, I'm not saying it's right. But we might not have any other choice." Hiccup said sympathetically stepping between them putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hiccup, this man has attacked Berk numerous times over an old grudge he has had for years. You can't even think about trusting him over something this serious." She said still glaring at Alvin, who stood still with a smug look on his face. "I'm not saying I trust him. But if he has a way to stop this, we need to try it. And it's not a bad idea, the Skrill could definitely rival the Screaming Death along with all of our dragons."

Alvin grinned as he turned towards Hiccup, dragging his hands along the arm of the throne. "The Screaming Death is attracted to light, the Skrill shoots pure lightning. It would be obvious to use the Skrill to lure it away from here. And Hiccup would be riding the Skrill to battle-" He paused brushing his hand through his beard before smiling again. "-and considering Berk is currently without an official chief, I could step in and take the place until Hiccup deals with the problem and is ready to become chief." He sat down on the throne and propped his feet on the table. Then it was Hiccups turn to glare at him, "What are you talking about? I'm chief, Gothi declares who the next chief is by sighing the crest." Alvin threw his feet down and clapped his hands together laughing. The entire hall looked confusedly at one another.

"Haha, if being declared chief was that easy, then I could make the symbol on my head and call myself chief anytime I wanted to! No Hiccup Haddock, you must earn the title from the people." Alvin shouted as Hiccup stood there bewildered, the Vikings around him raised their eyebrows and nodded in agreement. Hiccup looked around and frowned at all the Vikings. "I've saved this village numerous times! Is that not enough? How many would be dead from the Red Death? The Bewilderbeast?!?" The villagers looked at one another mumbling, Alvin stood up and threw his hands over the crowd. "That isn't enough Hiccup Haddock, those are what any of us would have done if we had the chance. You must prove your true worth to the people like a true Viking! Train the Skrill so you can defeat the Screaming Death! Without the help of anyone or anything, even that dragon of yours. I say only then can you call yourself chieftain of Berk, because if you don't. There will be no Berk to go back to!!" The entire crowd erupted in approval chanting Alvin's name beating their hands and mugs on the table. Hiccup looked over the screaming crowd and seeing Astrid he locked eyes with her. She shook her head, a look of horror on her face, but Hiccup only smiled. "I'll do it, I make Alvin stand in Chieftain while I'm gone. What he says goes, I will be back with the Skrill and we will stop the Screaming Death."


	3. Mind, Body, and Soul

The crowd broke into cheering as Hiccup stayed in the hall, the council clapping him on the back shouting at him as they all left. Alvin quietly slipped out the back of the hall with no one noticing him. Astrid pushed through the crowd and met Hiccup leaning on the table, she grabbed his face and turned it towards her.

"Hiccup, you can't be serious. Going after the Skrill? That's insane enough, but then you have to use the Skrill to defeat the Screaming Death! There's no way you are going to do that." Astrid said as she started to get angry. "I don't really have a choice Astrid, the people have made up their minds. If I'm ever going to get them to trust me I need to do this. You said I should start thinking of the people, now I am."

Astrid growled and threw her hand up, "Thats not what I mean! Hiccup, stop letting your big head get in the way. You can't do this, it would be a suicide mission. And... and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something ever happened to you." She said looking down with tears in her eyes, her anger draining away as she tried to hold the tears.

"I almost lost you to the Red Death, I can't see me ever being without you, you've always- been there for- me." She said between sobs looking towards the ground, Hiccup smiled as he took her hand and brought her chin up to face up to him, "You won't lose me, not now not ever, as long as you're here and safe. That's enough for me to get through this. I'll always be here Astrid, you will never be somewhere that I'm not with you.'' He said bringing her into a soft kiss as they stood alone in the empty hall, he raised his hand behind her back and gave her a small hug slowly breaking the kiss as he looked lovingly into her bright blue eyes, "I need to do this, not just to prove that I can be cheiftian to the village, but to prove that to myself. My father had such high hopes for me, and I always let him down. This is my chance to redeem myself to him and everyone else." She smiled and nodded slowly as Hiccup kissed her on the head, feeling her soft hair brush his lips.

He led out the doors as they walked over to them hand in hand. "I hope you'll at least let me walk you home without a punch?" she laughed wiping her nose, "Only if I get to when you get back." He smiled and they slowly walked to her hut hand in hand. Hiccup gave her one last kiss on the head before she gave him a smile and stepped inside closing the door.

He let out a sigh and leaned against the wall when he saw Valka walking over to him. "I don't know what to do mom. How did dad ever handle all the stress without going insane, I can't even handle a village metting without something horrible happening." Valka laughed and sat against the wall with him. "You think he handled it easily? Tell me this Hiccup, how often was you around to actually see him? Even a great man like Stoick has a breaking point, he just knew how to push past and keep going for the sake of the village. You are stonger than you think Hiccup, and I know you will be a better cheif than Stoick had ever hoped for." she said smiling at him, Hiccup just looked to the ground.

"Mom, It's not just about the village. Astrid has always been there, now it feels like I'm abandoning her to do this. If anything does happen to me, I would hate for her to have to go through anything like that. I love her with all my heart, but now it seems like my heart is just causing more problems." Hiccup said solemly as he turned to look at her, she smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Hiccup, me and Stoick didn't have the perfect marrige nor the greatest relationship. But everytime things got rough, we always had each other to go to. You would do anything for Astrid and her anything for you, relationships don't make things harder. When you have someone with you, they make the hard path straight and clearer. This path will be hard, but everytime you need strength, think of the people you love and trust me, it will all work out in the end. You have the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon. The people around who matter will always be with you, no matter where you go." She said wrapping him in a hug. "Now then, don't tell me you're too old for your mother to walk you back to your hut are you?" Hiccup laughed helping her off the ground, "Never too old"

Back in his hut Hiccup fell into restless sleep.

"Get those torches lit! Make sure those dragons don't get near the sheep pen!!" Stoick yelled to Spitelout pointing his axe. He stood over the edge of the cliff seeing the approaching dragons when he turned to see a five year old Hiccup running towards him holding a small shield.

"Dad! Look what Gobber made me, it's a shield so I can fight dragons like you, it's even got a NightFury painted on the front of it!" he said excitedly not noticing the Hideous Zippleback sneaking up on him from behind a nearby hut. "One day I'm going to make my own with a crossbow, and a net, and all sorts of cool gadgets!" Stoick raised his hand to his head running his forehead. "Hiccup, I don't have time to take care of you, why don't you- LOOK OUT!!" Stoick screamed as the Zippleback charged, he grabbed Hiccup by the front of the shirt and threw him into a cart full of apples.

Hiccup raised his sheild in an attempt to block it, the Zippleback suddenly stopped mere inches from the front of the shield snapping it's jaws. Hiccup peeked over to see Stoick grab the dragon by the tails and start dragging it backwards grunting in effort. The dragon turned sharply whipping Stoick through the wall of a hut with a large crack, the demolished wall sending wood and dust everywhere.

Stoick stood up stepping through the side of the destroyed hut straightening his helmet, blood coming from a gash on the side of his head. "So you like to play rough do ya'? Well come on then!!" The Zippleback charged at him enraged, both heads roaring in anger. Stoick grabbed a blanket and length of rope from the hut as the Zippleback lunged at him sliding across the dirt. Stoick jumped over them and landed on the necks wrapping both heads in the blanket and tying the rope in a quick knot, trapping both of them.

The dragon went into a frenzy shaking its head back and forth wildly as Stoick jumped off landing beside his fallen axe. The dragon then tried to blow the blanket off it's head by filling it with gas and igniting it, the gas leaking through the seams but keeping the majority trapped. It light the gas blowing the blanket to ashes, but dazing both heads in the process.

Leaping to action Stoick grabbed his axe and charged it jumping into the air swinging towards the base of the necks. Hiccup covered his eyes with his shield before hearing a sickening THUNK. Hiccup looked over to see Stoick standing over the fallen dragon breathing heavily, sweat and blood dripping from his face, his axe still lodged in the dragons neck. Blood draining out the mouths of both heads as the heads writhed and curled.

"Get back to the forge Hiccup. Now." Stoick growled pointing in the direction of the Forge. Hiccup jumped from the cart stumbling and ran with all his might, dropping his sheild as he ran. He turned to grab it reaching towards it but Stoick scooped it up and threw off the cliff into the sea. "Get back to the froge! You will never be cheif if you don't start acting like one, now GO!!" he screamed furiously.

Hiccup ran away muttering trying not to show tears, "I'm a brave viking, I'm a brave viking.'' Stoick turned back to see the village under attack, Vikings and dragons fighting viciously. "Bah, why can't that boy understand. I just want him to be ready." Hiccup woke up in bed drenched in sweat, he sat on the side of his bed resting his head in his hands wearing nothing but a loose shirt.

He put on his leg and stood up knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep and went over to his desk, the wood under his feet creaking with every step. He looked over to Toohtless' pad to see him laying on his back, his drooling tongue dangling from his mouth while he snored. Hiccup chuckled but quieted when he heard someone walking outside through the fallen leaves making a sharp crunching noise with each step, he peeked out to see Alvin calmly walking towards the forest carrying a small wrapped package with him.

Hiccup watched him continue to walk into the forest not slowing down. "Where are you going Alvin?" Hiccup said quietly to himself getting dressed, putting his pants on as quietly as he could. He slowly opened and stepped out the door careful not to step on any leaves or branches, and they both disappeared into the night.


	4. The Man Behind The Curtain

Hiccup followed Alvin deeper into the woods until the was on the far North side of the island near Raven Point. Hiccup hid behind a bush when Alvin stood looking down over a cliffs edge cautiously looking behind him before jumping over, Hiccups eyes went wide thinking of what just happened until he heard voices just below the point where Alvin jumped.

Hiccup slowly crept over and leaned over to see a ledge that opened into a cavern going into the side of the cliff. He leaned down on the cold rock as far as he could before cupping his ear to hear more, the grass brushing he face as he laid as still as possible. "...and they just accepted what you said? Ha, Berk must be even more dimwitted than I thought. Did you get what I asked for?" A rough voice said, Hiccup tried to place it but couldn't come to a conclusion on who's it was.

"Yes, didn't take much. A few pieces of gold and he happily gave it to me without the slightest hint of suspicion. And the bast part? The daft man believed me when I said I would be the chief until Hiccup gets back-" Alvin was cut off quickly by the other man who sounded like he threw something against the wall, "He will not get back, he will never be back! I will have him join that horrible father of his. And nothing will change that!"

"But Berk. The villagers don't want him dead, the boy has done too much for them to not care if he died. They would immediately be suspicious about what happened." Alvin said cautiously. "That is why I told you to say he goes alone! No witnesses, no problem. And it doesn't matter what they think or want! All that matters is what I want, and what I want, is Hiccup Haddock DEAD!!"

Hiccup jumped shaking a few rocks loose from the edge. They landed on the ledge sending a loud echo throughout the cavern. Both voices dropped to a whisper, grimacing at making noise Hiccup leaned farther listening as hard as he could. "...you think?" Alvin said quietly, "Yes, right outside..." Realizing what was about to happen Hiccup jumped up and ran with all his might hearing them run to the entrance. "We heard you! We will find you and when we do, you'll be sorry you ever came to this place! Alvin, get them!" The rough voice shouted out from the ledge as Hiccup ran back to his hut.

By the time he reached his hut, the sun was already coming up and the Terrible Terrors were already starting to sing. He threw open the door to his hut slipping on the wet stone falling to the floor, he quickly stumbled up and slammed the door shut leaning back against it his face soaked in sweat. Toothless suddenly shot up growling and leaned back ready to pounce, but when his pupils dilated and he only saw Hiccup he calmed and walked over to Hiccup who slid down the to the floor, Toothless sensed Hiccup was troubled and purred softly at him rubbing his hand.

Hiccup stared straight ahead with blank eyes, before turning to him, "We got to go find Astrid." He stood up to get Toothless' saddle but hesitated, "If I tell Astrid she'd be even more worried than she already is and try to do something which would make Alvin suspicious." He stopped and started pacing the room back and forth, Toothless watching him worriedly. "And telling mom would make her confront Alvin and he would think that she spied on him. So who can I tell?"

Hiccup sighed in exasperation before sitting down hard on his bed looking at the harness. "Looks like I'm alone on this. I don't want anyone to be threatened by me telling them about what I heard." He put the saddle back on the hook and started to walk outside. When he opened the door Alvin was standing there with a grin on his face leaning on the door frame. "Good morning." Hiccup jumped back in surprise and Toothless growled, "Alvin! Wha- what are you doing here?" Alvin casually looked around squinting in the sunlight.

"Ohh, I was out for a walk when I heard you was awake and went to see if you wanted to take a walk down the docks with me. I have a few tips for taking down the Skrill." Hiccup shuffled nervously while Toothless stayed at his side glaring menacingly at Alvin who just ignored him. "Uh, gee thanks Alvin. But I actually have a lot to do, and I have to find a boat that I am going to be able to use. So maybe later I guess."

Alvin looked at him suspiciously before shrugging and looking towards the dock, "A boat eh? Do you have one picked out yet?" Hiccup stood there unmoving trying to find a way out of the conversation. "No, not yet. I was going to have one picked it by this afternoon though." Alvin scratched his beard and glanced into Hiccups room. "Hm, maybe later then. I just remembered I have a few things that do myself, but remember this Hiccup, the Skrill hates water. So be sure to stay near the sea when you find it, wet Skrill easy kill. You never know when you might need salty sea water, eh?" He smiled before turning to walk away leaving Hiccup wondering what he meant.

After Alvin left with the message, Hiccup shut the door Hiccup and went back to his bed rubbing his aching foot. "He knows I fought the Skrill before, so why would he tell me something I already know?" Hiccup sat there in silence before hearing a knock on the door, he walked over slowly and opened the door to see Fishlegs standing here holding a package.

"Hey Hiccup, have you seen the twins? I saw them looking for Grimoras yesterday in the Hangar and haven't seen them since." Hiccup put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "No, I guess I haven't. I didn't think I could keep them away for that long!" "Well, has the A-Team returned from patrol? I was wondering if they had seen Heather anywhere." Hiccup raised an eyebrow and leaned on the side of his bed. "Not yet, and she's probably at Berserker Island, why do you ask?"

Fishelgs started fiddling with the package in his hand beginning to open it. "Just wondering if I could go there to see Heather, uhh, speaking of Heather... I was also wondering-" he was interrupted by Snotlout flung open the door scaring Fishlegs and making Toothless jump, he had burn marks all over him and scratched all over his arms.

He barged in and walked right up in Hiccups face, "Two entire days wasted on a trip that should have taken an afternoon. Want to know what happened?" He said loudly pointing at Hiccuos face, Hiccup started to say 'no' when Snotlout interrupted him. "Well I'll tell you! When I did find Johann at the Northern Markets, he was selling a bag of worms and telling a super boring story to some guy about his adventures on the Island of Friga. I had to stand around for hours while he rambled on. When the guy finally left it was getting dark out, Johann decided it would be safer to make camp on that horrible island than fly with me! The next morning when I finally convinced him I was a fantastic flyer, much better than Hiccup. We ran into a pack of wild dragons near Berserker Island who decided to attack us! We managed to escape but look what they did to me!" He said this throwing his arms out showing the long burn and scratched lining his arms.

"It took the rest of the morning trying to find our way back after they chased us away, So yeah! Thanks Hiccup for taking out all my me-time!!" Hiccup just looked at him unamused. "Are you done?" Snotlout huffed crossing his arms on his chest, "Yes. Just had to get that off my head." Hiccup sighed, "Well, where is the map, I have to do this before I leave now." Snotlout looked at Fishlegs handing the map over to Hiccup, "What's he talking about Fishface? It almost sounded like he's going on a trip."

Fishlegs frowned putting the package back in Meatlugs side sachel, "He is. You missed a lot while you was gone. Hiccup has to hunt the Skrill, so he can train it to hunt the Screaming Death." Snotlout stood shocked for a moment, "I leave for two days people and now the entire village has gone crazy! Two Days!!" He stormed out and flew off on Hookfang. Trader Johann stepped into the room. "Is it true master Hiccup? Are you really thinking of training the... the Skrill?" Hiccup nodded solemnly as he looked at the map. "I'm afraid so Johann, and I'll need your help to do it. Do you know where the biggest storm in the archipelago is" Johann gulped, "I was afraid you'd say that."

"Ok Johann, so the storm that the Skrill should be in is near Beserker Island?" Hiccup asked Johann looking over a map of the archipelago back at the Great Hall. "Yes master Hiccup, but it is rather strange. The Skrill would normally stay away from Berserker Island since the entire village has the whole 'Skrill obsession'. Not to mention Dagur. Also, a very strange man was telling me to not bring my boat through the Straits of Balder, that is why I decided to fly with Snotlout, which was horrendous."

Hiccup sighed dropping his and wrapping up the map, "Johann, Dagur is on our side now. There's no way he would try and go after the Skrill now that he has the Triple Strike" Johann seemed unconvinced, "Still, it does seem quite odd for the dragon to be so close to such a hostile island." Hiccup sighed before rolling the map up and tucked it under his arm and putting it back in his hut.

Later, Hiccup, Gobber and Astrid went down to the docks to find a boat that would make the journey. "Well, there is the boat that me and Fishlegs reinforced with Gronckle Iron, it would definitely make the trip." Hiccup walked over to the boat and climbed aboard looking at all the intricate levers and lines. He turned back towards Gobber who was picking his teeth. "Could only one Viking sail it?"

Gobber flicked a bit of food from his teeth away into the water and frowned. "Ehh, no. Not really." Gobber said shrugging. Astrid walked down to the end of the dock and saw a small boat with a steering column and looked as though it could all be controlled from the helm. "What about this one?" She called hopping aboard checking it over. Hiccup and Gobber walked over, the borates under then groaning.

"Huh. That wasn't there earlier this morning. But it seems as though it could work!" Hiccup said as he stepped up to the steering column and started pulling ropes trying to figure out the mechanics. "So it looks like this rope here connects to the mast and turns the sail so the wind can catch from any direction, and this lever here makes the anchor release, it's pretty complex. Must have taken a while to build it, but I definitely think it will work."

Astrid walked over to him and held the steering column looking over the sea. "Well, then what now Hiccup?" Hiccup stood by the mast and leaned against it, "There's only one thing left to do I guess, it's time to train a Skrill."


	5. Sailing The Straits

On the day before Hiccup was going to leave for the Skrill, he spent the entire day preparing the boat and packing food, water, and other supplies. Later in the day Hiccup was packing things he would need for the trip when he saw the map Johann gave him, he picked it up sighing. Toothless looked at him turning his head sideways. "Well bud, looks like this has to be put on hold for now."

He rolled it up and set it down thinking about the date he had planned with Astrid, a small trip to a deserted island which nothing around for miles and just the two of them... and Toothless. He quickly continued packing a few things with Toothless watching him contentedly when Astrid knocked on his door stepping in. "Oh, Astrid. What can I do for you milady?" Hiccup asked turning towards her hiding the map behind him. "Nothing, just coming over to see if you was doing ok." She said swinging her arms with a grin on her face going to sit on his bed.

"So, what are you going to do about that Skrill? We've never even tried training it before." She asked with a worried look on her face. Crossing her legs she laid back, staring at the ceiling with her arms resting on her stomach. Hiccup sighed putting the bag down and went to lie next to her, putting his arm under her head. "I don't know, I was hoping an idea would come to me on the way. I'm just worried about the trip to even find it."

Astrid looked over to him giving him a quick kiss on the head and put her arm on his chest feeling Hiccups heart race. "Don't worry, you'll think of something, you always do. And besides, it's not like you've sunk nearly every boat you've been on, oh wait you have!" She started laughing kicking her legs in the air, Hiccup rolled his eyes smiling at her before sitting up holding her hand.

"Hey, are you up for a late night flight?" Hiccup asked as she sat up beside him. "Sure! just let me get Stormfly." Hiccup stood up and went to grab Toothless's saddle from the wall, "Actually, I was just thinking of just riding on Toothless." He said sheepishly as he took the saddle down from the wall. "Uh, ok. Sure, but you'd better wake him up first." Astrid said raising an eyebrow, Hiccup frowned wondering what she meant, "Huh? He was awake not-" He turned to find Toothless asleep with his head resting on the edge of Hiccup's bed, drooling all over the blankets. "Oh... I guess he fell asleep, are we that boring?" Astrid shrugged and laid back down.

Hiccup sighed and walked over too him trying to shove him off the bed. "Come on, off the bed, we talked about this." He grunted trying to push him off multiple times but Toothless just sat there snoring away. Astrid rolled her eyes and shooed Hiccup away before leaning close to Toothless whispering to him, "If you get up, I'll make Hiccup feed you cod whenever you want." Toothless's eyes shot open and he quickly got up, racing around the small room knocking things down every time he bumped something.

Hiccup dropped the saddle and jumped out of the way after nearly getting stepped on, "Good Gods Astrid, what did you tell him?" Astrid smiled at his dumbfounded face and grabbed his hand pulling him towards the door. "Don't ever say I can't train a dragon as good as you." Hiccup laughed grabbing Toothless's saddle and a blanket from the ground. "Never."

(1) They went outside just as the sun was going down from the horizon behind the clouds, making the sky turn a brilliant orange and pink color as Hiccup led them out away from his hut climbing on Toothless, helping Astrid up onto the saddle before leading Toothless to the edge of a cliff. Looking down at the churning water below Astrid held Hiccup tighter as he motioned for Toothless to go over the edge, Toothless smiled diving off silently keeping his wings tucked under him.

The roar of the wind in their ears and the water rushing towards them grew as they neared the water. Eyes growing wide and a smile on her face Astrid shouted in excitement, the feeling of flying never grew old when it came to dragons. Hiccup looked back at Astrid smiling before pulling on the saddle making Toothless spread his wings at the last moment. They leveled out taking flight over the sea, the sparkling water sprayed mist into the air as they flew over. The cold ocean breeze blowing in their faces making Astrid put her face into Hiccups back and hold him tighter, her hair blowing behind her in the wind. Hiccup took them above the clouds, the Northern Lights lighting up the night like a starry paintbrush being dragged through the endless sky.

They flew through the sky not even caring about the cold, Hiccup looked around seeing the view and turning to see Astrid with her eyes closed, a look of pure happiness and bliss on her beautiful face. "Wow..." Hiccup said softly admiring her in the moonlight. Astrid opened her eyes, the stars reflecting in her shining bright blue eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked looking strangely at him. Coming out of his daze Hiccup put his hand on hers which was resting around his waist. "Absolutely nothing, I was just thinking about the first flight we had together. Thinking I could never be happier, and yet here I am 5 years later with the girl of my dreams behind me thinking of how lucky I am to have you, glad nothing has except how much I love you." Astrid smiled warmly at him hugging him as tight as she could, "Some things have changed alright, but you and I will never. I love you Hiccup, always have, always will." He turned and kissed her forehead as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

Smiling to himself he took them to the clearing on the side of a mountain on the far side of the island overlooking a forest with the sea on the horizon, the moon was now fully risen and casting a faint glow on everything. Landing in a grassy spot he jumped down and helped Astrid climb down. Holding hands they walked over to the edge of the cliff and laying down beside each other, Astrid cuddling closer as Hiccup put his arm around her. "Hiccup, not that I don't absolutely love this." She said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "But why are you doing it now, could you not think of a better time?" She asked putting her hand on top of his, Hiccup sighed and turned to look at her.

"Of course I could, but it seemed like if I didn't do this now I might not... have time after this whole test thing." Hiccup said catching himself. Astrid raised an eyebrow, "What was you going to say?" Hiccup looked from side to side. "Uh, what? I wasn't going to say anything." Astrid twisted his hand a pinned him to the ground. "You was going to say, 'Make it back to do it' wasn't you?" Hiccup sighed, Astrid pressed his face harder against the cold ground. "I didn't want to say something I was going to regret, looks like I have to try harder next time." He said sitting up, Astrid looked at him worriedly.

Hiccup turned towards her and grabbed her hand. "I will make it back, and you will be the first person I run to when I do. And I know you'll be there waiting for me." Astrid punched him in he arm and glared at him. "Well yeah, and you'd better get back soon or I might just have to go and do your job for you like I always do!" Hiccup rubbed his shoulder smiling, "Of course you would, but right now. This is my job."

He caught her off guard grabbing her by the back of her head and pulling her into a long kiss, Astrid let out a small sigh as their lips met and he gently grabbed her waist and slowly let her roll him onto his back and climb on top of him. Lying on the soft ground, Hiccup ran his hand gently down her back as she laid on top of him passionately kissing until they broke apart. She laid her head on his chest as he stroked her long hair. She looked up to him smiling softly, her eyes showing a look of pure love. Hiccup gave her a quick kiss on the nose making her blink as he continued to stroke her hair. Astrid rested her hand under her chin so it wasn't digging into Hiccups chest as they stared lovingly at each other, Astrid rolled off him and came to rest beside him wrapping grabbing his hand and holding it to her chest.

Her eyes fluttering open as she tried to stay awake, Hiccup gave her a kiss on the head as she dozed off to sleep, her breathing slowed and calmed blowing blades of grass tickling her nose. Hiccup smiled and laid his head back to stare up into the starry sky thinking about how he ever could deserve someone like her. Dozing off to sleep himself he felt her shiver and cuddle closer trying to get as much of his body heat as possible.

Hiccup wrapped his arms around her before hearing a rustle sound behind him and turned his head to see Toothless bringing him the blanket he brought along with them. He quietly put it over them and Toothless curled up on the ground next to him. Looking at Astrid who seemed to already be in deep sleep he put his head against hers and whispered into her ear. "Me and Toothless might have made things better, but you and I changed everything. At least for me you did, I love you Astrid Hofferson." He kissed her head once again softly, her hair brushing his lips, Astrid smiled in her sleep and they both fell into deep sleep lying next to each other.

The next morning Hiccup woke up to Astrid lying beside him breathing softly, he laid his head back down waited for her to wake up watching the birds fly above him. After a while she slowly rolled over opening her eyes yawning, a look of confusion crossed her face before seeing Hiccup and laid her head down smiling wrapping herself tighter in the blanket. "Good morning." She said yawning, Hiccup kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. "Good morning m'lady. Sleep good?" She laughed and rolled over landing face to face with him. "I'm with you aren't I? That means I'm happy." Hiccup leaned in and kissed her neck softly while Astrid gave a small shudder feeling his warm lips on her cool neck, feeling the warmth course through her body.

He propped his head on his hand stared at her lovingly while she stroked his cheek, "Did we stay here all night?" Hiccup smiled, "I guess we did." Astrid sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes trying to comb her morning hair down with her hand unsuccessfully, "Hiccup, how late is it exactly?" Hiccup looked up, squinting in the sunlight and saw the sun was almost near its peak. "About noon I'm guessing." Astrid shot up nearly falling over. "Hiccup! You was supposed to be at the docks at noon to leave, why didn't you wake up earlier!"

Hiccup got up and sighed, walking over to Toothless who was lying on his side peacefully snoring. "And she's back. Wake up bud, we got to get back to Berk." Toothless yawned and slapped Hiccup on the back of the head. "Why did you do that!" he screamed rubbing his head. Astrid walked over and started putting Toothless' saddle on."Because I told him to! Now get going before you're late." Toothless let out a laugh as they flew off back to Berk.

When they got there the entire village was already waiting for them down at the docks, Gobber was stalling by telling the stories that would have made Johann proud. Alvin turned around with a unamused look on his face before lighting up upon seeing he pair walk towards them all. "Looks like the chief finally decided to get out of bed!" Alvin said laughing.

Gobber walked through the crowd glaring at Alvin and grabbed Hiccups hand, "Are ya' ready lad?" Hiccup took one last look at Astrid who nodded and he stepped onto the boat, "I'm ready." The crowd cheered as he pulled the rope to undo the sail. He slowly started out of the docks, before looking back seeing Alvin point to the water then to his head. Hiccup thought to himself, 'remember the water? What is with him and water?'

Hiccup followed the map Johann had given him and set out for Berserker Island with Berk shrinking in the distance, he saw clouds gathering in the distance, slowly getting bigger. "Great, looks like Skrill is closer than I'd hoped." He sailed towards it until rain started hitting face, the storm got worse as he went further under the clouds. Soon the wind howled in his ears and the boat creaked and groaned with every wave that crashed into it.

Hiccup looked around for any sign of the Skrill, listening for lightning or a roar, but none ever came. He sailed towards the eye of the storm figuring that would be where the Skrill was, but was quickly losing control of the small boat as the storm kept getting worse. Hiccup gave up and headed for shore on the edge of Berserker Island to even try to make it out alive when the storm whipped his boat around until he was going in the opposite direction.

Hiccup shoved the column to the left trying to fight the storm but it was ripped from his hands leaving them cut with splinters and bleeding. With the rain blinding him and the clouds making it nearly impossible to tell what direction, he saw the smallest bit of sunshine on his right and turned the boat towards it. He fought the wind and waves till he was nearly out of the storm. "Come on!! Hiccup screamed as the wind whipped his hair in his eyes blinding him as he clung onto he steering column trying to keep it straight.

The waves crashed against the side of the boat, spraying his face with sea water. The boat suddenly lurched forward throwing Hiccup towards the front of the boat, he stood up only to be thrown headfirst into the mast leaving him lying dazed on the deck as the rain poured on him from all sides. He crawled over to grab the steering column trying not to pass out and hauled himself upright putting all his weight on it trying to make it turn. The small boat jumped sideways and started to sail straight for Berserker Island nearing the edge of the storm, "I'm almost out, just a little bit further!"

Nearing the edge he heard a shrill hissing and turned to his left to see a giant eel jump out of the water slamming into him, losing his balance Hiccup fell overboard into the icy cold churning water. The eel latched onto his metal foot and started dragging him down into the dark depths. Hiccup reached down and untied his metal leg, leaving the eel swimming off thinking it still had its prey. Hiccup frantically started swimming for air, breaking through the water gasping for air, the waves crashed relentlessly into him leaving his sense of direction disoriented. He heard a crashing sound from behind and turned to see his boat come crashing down on his head knocking him senseless. He slowly started to sink into the sea when someone grabbed his hand and hauled him into the saddle of a dragon. They flew off towards Beserker Island and the last thing Hiccup heard before blacking out was Astrid screaming his name.


	6. Berserker Island Gets Berserker

"Astrid... Astrid?" Hiccup mumbled as he sat up finding himself lying in a bed. He looked down to see his hands bandaged and his stump wrapped in cloth. He scooted to the edge of his bed and took in his surroundings, straight in front of the bed was the door, light seeping in from the key hole.

Hiccup hopped over to the door and tried pushing it open, but it was locked from the outside. He yelled out to anyone who could hear, "Hello! Is anyone there?" He heard someone moving outside the door and hobbled over to the bed and leaned against it. The door opened to reveal Heather smiling at him, "Oh, thank Thor you're awake. I wanted to be able to say goodbye before I left." Hiccup stood there shocked for a moment before shaking his head. "Heather, what... what am I doing here?"

She chuckled throwing him a wrapped package. "Would you rather be at the bottom of the sea? Me and Windshear was going around the island making sure it was locked down for the storm when we saw a boat starting to sink. We flew over just in time to see you get knocked out and dove down to save you and your bag. Also, that's a gift from Berserker Island." Hiccup opened the gift and a found a new leg bundled tightly in the cloth.

He then remembered what happened grabbing his head, "Ah, I remember now. Wait, is Astrid here?" Heather looked at him strangely, kneeling down to help him attach his new foot. "No, she's at Berk last I heard, along with Toothless, why?" Hiccup smile faded and was replaced by a look of disappointment. "Oh, I thought I heard her." Heather smiled, "She sent me a Terror mail explaining what's going on. She sounded really worried for you, I sent back what happned saying you was Ok. Oh, and there's someone here you probably would want to see." She said smiling, "Is Dagur here? I haven't seen him in a while."

Heathers' smile faded away as they headed out the door down a long corridor. "Uh, no. he's actually been gone for about two days now. That's where I was going, to go search for him." Hiccup stopped and turned towards her. "Missing? How could Dagur go missing. He'd never leave you behind." Heather shrugged shaking her head, "Hiccup, think about who we're talking about here. He's about as unpredictable as they come, I'm sure he's fine, but he didn't even say anything before he left. And Sluether is still in his hut. And if he left Sluether here, something must have been really wrong. So I was going to go search for him to at least find out where he was. Just to know he's safe." Hiccup agreed before she led him to the Great Hall.

(1) Outside the doors of the Great Hall, Hiccup could hear muffled singing and laughing coming from inside. The sound of dragons roaring echoing from the closed doors which glowed a bright orange from around the edges "What is going on in there?" Hiccup asked raising an eyebrow. "Oh, well it's mutton stew night. Quite a big deal around here..." Heather said smiling, Hiccup chuckled and turned to open the door but Heather stopped him holding the door shut. "Oh, but before you go in... now that I'm going after Dagur, I've had to appoint a stand in chief. Well chieftians." Hiccup gave her a suspicious look, "If I knew you was coming I wouldn't have, especially not those two-"

Hiccup threw open the door expecting to see Alvin and the man from the cavern. But instead saw a cooked chicken leg go soaring over his head landing limply a few feet behind him. "Huh, that's new, they usually keep it inside the hall." Heather said looking down at it as Hiccup looked back inside the now open doors.

The hall was packed with Viking's who were all chanting and singing, many bashing their cups of ale together and drinking uncontrollably. They all seemed to be drawn to the front of the hall where the thrones where. He tried to look over the crowd of people, but struggled to see clearly what all the commotion was about. Instead he began trying to carefully make his way through the crowd, closely followed by Heather.

Several dishes and handfuls of food soared over his head as Vikings threw them around wildly. One particularly drunken man ran past him chasing a squealing boar which was chasing a chicken, Hiccup turned back to Heather who seemed intent on seeing who would catch what first. "Is every meal like this?" he asked ducked quickly avoiding an apple that came flying towards him.

Heather calmly caught it easily laughing as Hiccup got back up slowly holding his hands on his head cautiously. "No, yesterday we had pork." Hiccup laughed and they continued to make their way towards the front of the crowd, squeezing through every gap in that crowd that presented a chance to go further.

Eventually they emerged from the gathering of people and found themselves standing a few meters away from the thrones positioned side by side at the front of the hall. Hiccup was surprised to see Ruffnut and Tuffnut carefully stacking various objects on a Yak that was resting in front of the thrones. Hiccup stood there stunned as they stacked rings, plates, and cutlery on the Yak. They was just putting on a large bowl when Hiccup called out to them.

"Ruff! Tuff! I didn't expect to see you two here!" he walked up to them startling the Yak, which jumped up and ran away frantically into the crowd as all the plates and cutlery carefully balanced on it was sent flying into the air landing with a large crash. "Hey! Nice going Hiccup, you ruined the game!" Ruffnut screamed stomping her foot, Hiccup gave them a confused look. "Game?" he asked. "Uh, yeah! We just invented it, we call it.. Yakaroo! You get a Yak, and stack as many things as you can on top of it without them falling off. Think it'll catch on?" Hiccup gave them an unamused look, "Yeah... I don't think so." Tuffnut scoffed, "He obviously doesn't see it for the true work of genius it truly is. So uninspired..." Hiccup rolled his eyes turning to Heather who laughed.

"Why did you make them temporary chieftians" She started to say something but Tuffnut interrupted her, "Because she is obviously someone who recognizes 'quality' when she sees it." Hiccup tried not to sigh too obviously and continued talking. "Well, anyway. I'm here to-" he was quickly cut off by Ruffnut. "-hunt a Skrill, we know. Heather told us all about your little mid-life crisis going on, and we want you to know." Tuffnut said interrupting him moving the fallen cups and plates, sitting back down in the throne." "We don't care." Tuffnut said finishing her sentence.

The twins sat down proudly in the thrones in front of Hiccup. "We are now the cheiftians of Berserker Island now Hiccup, your petty problems are of no concern to us. Begone! I hereby banish you from this island and force you to hunt the Skrill, and not return until you do!!" Heather quickly pushed her hand over Tuffnut's mouth as he continued to try and talk. "First of all, you're only cheiftians until till I get back with Dagur. And if I were you... " she said lowering her voice to a whisper. "... I would keep my voice down about hunting the Skrill here, have you forgotten where you are? Do you want to cause a riot?" Tuffnut turned to Ruffnut and smiled. "A riot! Great idea, we'll need axes, torches, and-" Heather slapped her hand over his mouth again rather annoyed, "No Tuff, no riot. Just try not to destroy everything while we are gone. Got it?" Tuffnut nodded and smiled to Ruffnut.

Hiccup walked up to Tuffnut at the foot of the throne. "But before we leave, I need to talk to you about where you've been and why you didn't tell any of us back at Berk what you was doing" Tuffnut gasped, "It's a riot! He stepped on the throne without permission! I knew he would flip on us! How dare he, begone!!" Heather stepped over grabbing Tuffnuts ear and pulled him down. "Get down now, your cheif would like to talk to you!" Heather looked over to Ruffnut who grabbed her ears, "Ok ok! we're going! Geez, I would hate to live on this island." Heather gave her a dirty look and took them into a small room far away from the Great Hall. (1)

Hiccup walked over to the twins, "Ok. So why are you here, and why haven't you even sent a Terror mail explaining what you've been doing or what's going on here?" Ruffnut threw her hands up, "Hey we just did what you said and cleaned the dragons for Grimoras. We found some on Hookfang when mutton head over here decided to rub them on his skin. Turns out they do work on humans, he went crazy running around trying to catch Chicken when I knocked him over the head with a mace. When I smacked him a few more times and it didn't work I tied him up and threw a bucket of sea water on him and they flew out. I trapped them in a bag and we flew them back to the island of Friga when we found Trader Johann trying to find herbs for his collection who said the Grimoras were 'interesting' and we traded him for a map that said there was buried treasure here! So, we got here and Heather asked us if we would watch the island for a few days while she went after Dagur."

She paused taking a big breath, "We said we would after we found the treasure, but it turns out there wasn't any treasure, just a bunch of empty caverns. We only went in a little ways before Muttonhead screwed it up. He said he heard someone down there and ran off to see. We got lost and had to have Barf blow gas down the tunnel and followed the air current out. One of my greatest ideas I ever had if I might add! Then you showed up and ruined the fun!'' She said before sitting down in a chair crossing her arms. Hiccup sighed and thought for a moment and turned towards Heather, "I need to get back to this Skrill problem, I would love to help with Dagur, but I need to do this before something happens at Berk." He took out his bag and luckily the map wasn't too water logged to be unreadable.

He pointed to the spot on the map where Johann said the Skrill was. "This is where I'm headed, Johann said the storm the Skrill was in was around this area, would you spare me a boat so I try to get to it?" Heather looked strangely at the map. "That storm has moved, it's now on the North side of the Island near those caves the Twins went to, you should be able to stay on land and get it's attention." Hiccup frowned, "Why would the Skrill be so close to land, especially this island? It has to know better than that." Tuffnut chuckled, "Is it not obvious? If the Skrill is staying so close to land, there has to be something at sea keeping it away. Duh" He said turning to Ruffnut. "Seriously, I thought he was smarter than that." Hiccup started pacing the small room. "Tuff, you may be onto something, but if something is keeping it away from sea. What is there that is big enough to scare a Skrill?"

Early the next morning Heather flew Hiccup to the edge of the storm that was crackling with lightning. "Well, at least we know the Skrill is there with all the lightning." Hiccup said as he checked Inferno on Windshears back, making sure the canisters were full and the blade sharpened. They landed by a large cave opening, Heather climbed off and peered into the darkness. "Treasure, ha, the only thing they would find down there is insanity. No ones ever come out of those caves, me and Dagur tried sending scouts to try and search them but they've never came back. Hiccup, this place is dangerous, just... keep your eyes open and stay away from these tunnels." She said before turning towards him realizing what she said.

"Oh, but I know you'll be fine. Well, I'd love to help you with the Skrill, but you have to do this 'alone' so I'd better start my search for Dagur. Best of luck to you Hiccup, lets hope we both return with good news." she said giving him a quick hug before flying off. Hiccup watched her fly off until she was just a speck on the horizon. Then he started into the storm with the wind, rain and lightning getting worse the further he went.

Hiccup felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up as he looked around trying to see any sign of the Skrill, but with the lightning and rain he couldn't see much of anything. He wandered around a bit more before hearing a deafening roar that rang through the sky. He turned just in time to see the Skrill diving down towards him, Hiccup dodged it rolling out of the way. Landing just beside a cave entrance and the foot of a cliff. "Not this time!" he shouted as it flew by barely missing him, the Skrill disappeared into the clouds, and Hiccup looked up shielding his eyes from the rain spinning around trying to spot it.

He turned towards his left to see the Skrill diving down towards him again. Hiccup got ready to roll again but the Skrill flew high above his head blasting the rocks on the mountain side looming above him. A huge boulder was shook loose by the blast and started tumbling down the mountain side headed straight for him. Hiccup was frozen in shock, watching it come barreling towards him and not noticing the Skrill land silently behind him.

Lightning flashed bringing him to his senses, Hiccup turned to run and found himself face to face with the Skrill. The dragon roared electricity running up and down its body and charged at him, Hiccup stumbled backwards in fear and fell into the cavern opening behind him, his helmet falling beside the entrance. He screamed as he fell and landing on his prosthetic bending the foot, the boulder came crashing down on the mouth of the cave entrance shaking rocks and dirt loose, covering Hiccup in debris.

Hiccup scrambled back from the hole expecting the boulder to fall through any moment but it only sat there. Blocking out the even the faintest light of the sun and leaving Hiccup trapped in the darkness of the caves. He shakily stood up with difficulty since his foot was broken and smacked his hands against the boulder in a useless attempt to make it move. "No no!! I have to get out, HELP!! Down here!!" He heard the Skrill above him land on the boulder and roar loudly into the howling storm. Knowing no one could hear him, Hiccup took Inferno from its holster and turned around without any other choice, hobbled into the dark caves, trying to find a way out. The only light guiding him is the fire from Inferno lighting his way into the unknown.


	7. Alvin’s Reform

As Berk cleared from the docks as Hiccup left, Astrid and Toothless watched solemly as he sailed off into the distance until he was out of sight. Toothless quietly purred and Astrid smiled petting his head. "It's ok, he'll be fine." She said reassuring herself more than him. She grabbed his saddle and led him back towards Berk taking him into the hangar.

She was just locking the door when Alvin stepped around the corner walking out. "Alvin? Why are you-" "Taking a evening walk, nothing more." She thought he was alone until another man walked out with a sheep following close behind him. "Mildew!? What are you doing here?" He smiled with rotten teeth, "You didn't think I'd be gone forever now did you? I heard of Stoicks death I came here to help, but when I got here, I found that Alvin was here as well. And we was just talking about how Hiccup made him cheif."

Toothless growled and Mildew flinched as Fungus bleated and hid behind him. "He did not! No one was made chieftain, but I'm next in line when Hiccup isn't here. So we don't need you, or even Alvin for that matter. So both of you can go ahead and leave anytime, sooner than later." Astrid yelled as Alvin and Mildew looked at each other raising their eyebrows.

"Astrid, Berk cannot be left without a cheiftian, the people chose me at the Great Hall. Officially? No, but neither was Hiccups after the Bewilderbeast. Some things have to take place in order for the well being of the people." Alvin said stepping over to her. "And besides, I've already got a second in command appointed." He said gesturing to Mildew who smiled. "At your service. I was happy to accept the position since Berk is in such a delicate state now from the mess Hiccup left it in. I was wondering how long it would take for him to run this island into the ground, and from the looks of it. He's done it in record time, Stoick would be so proud."

Mildews eyes went wide as Astrid stormed over punching him as hard as she could in the face, he dropped to the ground covering his mouth with his hand. Alvin laughed as Astrid stepped back shaking her hand, "Haha! Good one, I needed a good laugh! But did you have to aim for his mouth? He needs teeth to talk but honestly, he looks repulsive enough with the ones he has." Mildew scowled as he shakily stood up, he removed his hand to reveal a bloodied face and much fewer teeth. "You will regret that." He said spitting blood to the ground. Astrid grinned as she walked away, "Says the person with three teeth."

Back at her hut she rested on her bed dozing off when she heard a quiet knock on the door. Stormfly roused from her sleep and squawked fully waking Astrid up. She groggily walked over to the door yawning, "I'm coming, I'm coming." She opened the door to see Fishlegs standing there with Meatlug, a small bag fastened to her saddle. "Can I come in?" Astrid nodded and he slowly stepped inside. "Is everything ok?" Astrid yelled in frustration and started to pace the floor. "No, everything's not ok. Mildew is here and Alvin has named himself cheif, and I can't ask the people to reason with me because they would choose him! And we still have dragon raids to worry about! And on top of that, Hiccup is Thor knows where going after the Skrill alone! So no, everything is not ok." She said angrily crossing her arms.

Fishlegs shuffled his feet and started wringing his hands. "Well... we can try to help. How about sending a Terror Mail to Heather in case Hiccup goes there, just so they're ready." Astrid let out a sigh grabbing a pencil from her desk. "I guess so, I'll be sure to try and explain everything. Would you hand me that paper?"

She started writing with Fishlegs standing near by looking around. He noticed her betrothal necklace hanging around her neck. "So... have you and Hiccup talked about a wedding? It's been so long since your betrothal." Astrid hand trailed down the chain grabbing the medal. "Not yet, but honestly. With the kind of time we've been having this past year. We have hardly any time to talk at all. I'm fine waiting, he waited on me for years to even notice him. Least I could do I wait until all this is sorted out." Fishlegs nodded walking over to Meatlug.

When she finished she grabbed a Terror and sent it off, Fishlegs reached Meatlug who was quietly playing with Stormfly and started wringing his hands again, "Astrid, can I ask you something?" Astrid looked at him strangely, "Uhh, sure. What is it?" Fishlegs glanced to Meatlug, "Well, you and Hiccup have known eachother for a long time and now you're betrothed... And, uhh. Me and Heather have know eachother for quite a long time too. I... I want to ask her to be my betrothal, but I'm not sure what to do. I tried asking Hiccup before he left but I never got the chance."

He grabbed the small bag from Meatlug and reached inside to pull out a silver bracelet engraved with Heathers name and had a Razorwhip with green emerald eyes circling the entire length. Astrid gasped carefully grabbing it from him, "Fishlegs, it's beautiful! Did you make this yourself?" He nodded smiling, "It's made entirely out of Gronckle Iron, and I found the emeralds in a cove near Valka's Dragon Sanctuary. Do you... do you think she'll say yes?" Astrid smiled warmly at him, "Definitely, when was you planning on asking her?" He took the bracelet back and carefully placed it back in the sachel.

"When Hiccup got back and everything was calmed out a bit, but not now. And please don't tell anyone else about this." Astrid grabbed his hand, "You can trust me, but there's no need to hide it, you two are perfect for eachother. Which is exactly what she used to say to me, but if you want to wait. I totally get it, just don't wait too long. Snotlout might make his move first, but I'm pretty sure I'd know what the answer to him would be." They both laughed and stepped outside.

Spitelout came running past them with a sword in his hand and nearly knocked Astrid down. "Hey! Watch where your going!" Astrid screamed as he turned around to help her up. "Sorry lass, but you two need to get your dragons ready. The A-team has spotted a huge group of hostile dragons approaching from the North about half a day out. A massive dragon raid is coming and Alvin has called village meeting in the Great Hall." Astrid and Fishlegs gave eachother worried looks and ran through the dark towards the Great Hall

"People of Berk! These dragon raids have gone on too long, the island is still to weak to properly defend itself with the use of dragons!" Alvin said standing in the fire lit Hall. Lanterns swinging from the wind gusts coming in through the open doors. He over looked the packed Hall standing by the throne Mildew by his side. "Years ago we fought dragons with primeval methods, but we have progressed so far from those days. The time of peaceful defense is over! It's time to take the fight seriously and actually start defending ourselves!" The crowed looked to one another nervously before the Riders came through the door.

Valka came to stand on the steps in front of the throne looking over the crowd. "Peace is what brought the dragons and Berk together, this might be troubling times, but fighting with force isn't the answer. All you're trying to do is find a way to get rid of dragons!" Mildew sneered at her, "Hiccup said the same thing about the Screaming Death, but where is he now? Out to find a dragon stronger than it so he can defeat it. Force sometimes must be used, even as last resort. And we reached the end of the line by using peaceful methods." Valka turned to face him lowering her voice to a loathing whisper, "We both now the only reason Hiccup is out there is because you two put him there."

Alvin smiled, "Yes. I know, but tell me this. When Hiccup tried to reason with Drago, how did that end? With Stoick being killed by force stronger than him. Even Hiccup had to use force when defeating the Bewilderbeast." Valka's hands clenched as she took a step toward him, "Ah ah ah, Stoick is no longer here to protect you, I would choose your next action very wisely. Your opinion is not of importance Valka, my advisor and mine is all that counts. You might have been an influence when Stoick was here. But now, your just a voice in the crowd, so get back in it." He said leaning towards her, the crowd stared in shock from what he said as her face slackened and turned towards the ground as she stepped down.

Alvin smiled as Astrid came to gently lead her out, Alvin straightened up looking over the fearful crowd. "Good, now that the thorn in my side is gone, it's time to get to work." He paused for a moment letting the crowd murmur die down. "People of Berk! We could build our own weapons and lose valuable time and resources! But I have an alternative, why don't we use the best dragon trapper equipment in this known world. Drago Bludvist left countless traps, net launchers and cannons behind. I have scourged the battle field gathering every last lever and gear to rebuild a massive armory." He said gesturing to a massive load of metal and parts being carted outside the open doors by a group of large men grunting with effort.

The entire hall stood in shock as they say three more carts pass by headed to the forge, each one filled to the brim with all sorts of pieces of weapons. Alvin stepped over to the tapestry of a Viking riding a dragon behind the throne and tore it down, it fell to the ground dust flying everywhere. He carried it over to the fire pit and threw it in, the entire hall stood and watched as the beautiful tapestry was quickly engulfed in flames soon turning to ash. He stormed back up the steps turning to once again face the crowd. "I say we take down the dragons once and for all! The time for peace is over, now is the time for attack! Now who's with me!!" the crowd remained silent as Alvin threw his arms out over the crowd.

The crowd looked nervously to one another all afraid to say anything. Spitelout stood above the crowd frowning, "Stoick tried this once with the Red Death with weapons we thought at the time was perfectly fine. The dragons have evolved with us, becoming smarter and better equipped to fighting us. We didn't just sit around letting them attack us when they did. They learned our moves and evaded our defenses. You will lead this island into a war against the rest of the Archipelago. And I'm not going to help you in any way with that."

A few people nodded their heads in agreement and the Dragon Riders all looked to each other warily. "Fine then, those who don't like this plan can go, but this will happen with it without you. And if you're not with us, your against us." Spitelout and the riders all left with a few more Vikings. "Alright then, now that we've weeded out the traitors from the Vikings." He said calmly as he grabbed a sword from one of the passing carts and threw it at the wall, going through the head of a dragon on a tapestry, it sunk into the stone a foot before stopping waving back and forth. The crowd jumped back and looked in horror as he slowly pulled it back out, a shrill scraping noise filled the air. He rubbed the edge with his fingers pointing the end towards the crowd. "I'll ask again, Who's with me!!" The entire hall raised their hands and shouted in agreement, "I am!" Alvin smiled gently placing the sword back. "That's what I thought, now let's begin."


	8. Darkness Of The Depths: Part 1

Hiccup hobbled down the musky cavern tunnel for what seemed like an eternity, Inferno in his hand casting a ghostly shadow behind him. His steps resounding from the hallow cavern floor as he went further and further into the darkness before he reached a branch going in two separate directions. He cautiously looked left and right trying to decide which way to go, one went to the left and higher while the other continued downwards. "Higher is better I guess..." he said warily.

He continued going higher and higher, but soon came into a narrow passage. Getting on his hands and knees he crawled through holding Inferno out in front of him careful not to stab himself. The bright light from Inferno caused him to crawl forward blindly hoping for the tunnel to open up. Shoulders now scraping the sides, he pushed forward grunting with effort. The tunnel did eventually open up, but not the way it needed to. Hiccup crawled to the edge of the tunnel to find a sheer drop with no visible bottom, eyes wide he reached down trying to find a ledge to hold onto.

Finding nothing he tried squirming backwards to try and go back the way he came. He crawled back a few inches before getting stuck shoulders locked, kicking his legs he tried to move at all only getting himself more stuck in he process. Screaming in frustration he laid his head down in exasperation, Inferno slowly running out of gel becoming dimmer by the second before totally extinguishing.

Total darkness... nothingness... alone...

He yelled out in agony as he kicked from the ground trying to propel himself forward trapped hands scraping the stone. Finally managing to reach the edge again he pulled his hands free grabbing the side pulling himself up. "Ok, so I can't go forward, back or down..." He reached up smiling feeling a ledge. "What about up?" he turned over onto his back grabbing a Monstrous Nightmare gel canister and Hideous Zippleback gas chamber from his leg harness.

He poured the gel into the handle of Inferno and took the gas chamber cracking it open at the top to slowly letting the gas escape. He threw the gas into the air letting it leave a trail as it flew upwards. Quickly drawing Inferno he lit the gas which ignited the entire room before the flames reached the chamber causing an explosion letting him see that he was crawling through a hole in the side of a massive cliff with small footing and ledges going to the top. "Up it is then."

With Inferno in one hand he reached up to the first ledge pulling himself up and out of the hole. Rolling onto the ledge he sheathed Inferno and looked down at his bent prosthetic frowning, "Of all the times to break, you have to now! Well, that doesn't mean it's entirely useless." he said removing it. He switched feet from walking to ice pick and started digging out a foothold so he could climb to the next ledge, which was much smaller than the one he was on now.

Carefully he pulled himself up to the small crevice using all his strength to hold himself up with one hand while he chiseled a new foothold. He continued his slow ascent up the vertical wall reaching ledge after ledge and digging foothold after foothold before finally reaching the top. Hauling himself up with all his remaining strength he collapsed in a heap sweat running down his face and breathing heavily, the sound of his racing heart was all that could be heard in the silence.

Lying on the stone for a moment regaining his strength he stood up reattaching his leg, swapping it back to the bent piece. "Well, its better then nothing..." He took out Inferno and again set off to find a way out down another seemingly endless tunnel.

(1)Minutes, hours, days all seemed to blend together walking through the maddening darkness, Hiccup walk down tunnel after tunnel trying to find even a glimpse of light or breeze. Walking down a particularly large tunnel it came to a dead end. "Arg, not again. What is it going to take!!" Pounding his fist against he wall screaming into the darkness. He turned around and started to walk the other way when he heard a small noise from the cave wall. "...hello?" He called out warily, cupping his ear, he heard the noise again. It sounded like the distress call of a dragon.

He walked over to the dead end wall dodging rows of stalagmites until he kneeled down and saw a small hole near the bottom. "What is this?" he said trying to look down it, not noticing the stalagmites behind start to get closer to the ground inch by inch. Hearing a rumble Hiccup slowly looked over his shoulder realizing what was happening, "This isn't a cave... it's a dragon!!" He dove out of the giant beasts mouth just as the jaws snapped shut, dropping Inferno when he landed it scooted out a few feet in front of him. He looked back to see dragon from his worst nightmares.

The dragon had six short, stubby legs that seemed to have finger like toes that was scratching the stone. Its razor sharp teeth slowly folded back as the jaw deflated like a toads as it's face came into view, the grey glassy eyes revealed the dragon to be almost, if not completely blind. The small grotesque body was pudgy and rounded, littered with blisters and scratches, the tail was a nub it's roar sounded like a child screaming in pure terror, frills shot out from the back of the neck and suddenly the entire dragon lit up in a blue aura as it charged Hiccup.

He scrambled for Inferno, grabbing his sword he swung it at the beast, but had no effect on the blind dragon. Hiccup rolled out of the way as it came barreling past him smashing into the wall, rocks and dust rained down from the ceiling peppering both of them. Screeching in anger it expanded its jaw closing off the tunnel, hearing a hissing noise Hiccup dove behind a rock as the dragon let loose a solid wall of flame that filled the cavern entirely. The dragon deflated its jaw again and roared as Hiccup stood raising Inferno. It charged again, and Hiccup, who saw there was only hope for escape.

He took a Zippleback gas chamber, opened the top and threw it into the gaping mouth as it charged past him, its teeth tearing his armor on its way past. Sensing something in its mouth, the dragon snapped its jaws causing the canister to explode entirely and gas filled it massive mouth. It roared shaking its head back and forth trying to get away, "Hey Cave Crawler! Over here!" Hiccup yelled as the dragon slowly turned towards him, its dead eyes locking onto him, gas pouring out the sides of its mouth. It charged him again but Hiccup lit Inferno and threw it into the mouth, again diving behind the rock. "Smile you son of a-"

BOOM!! The entire caver shook with the force of the explosion, the dragons upper mouth was completely separated from the jaw as it folded back, the sound of breaking bones cracked through the air. The body was completely disintegrated as it legs exploded from its body and was smashed against the wall. A horrible roar was heard as the cavern collapsed, Hiccup jumped up and ran with all his might to escape the tons of falling rock that would crush him instantly, but was slowed by his broken foot.

Looking back as the inevitable came closer he found himself at the edge of yet another cliff, looking back and forth, he leaped off into the dark void just as the entire tunnel came raining down where he stood not seconds before. Wind rushing past his face he kept falling, his left food landed on solid ground, Hiccup screaming in agony hearing a crunching sound his leg folding underneath hiand was knocked senseless as his head hit the stone floor.

As he faded into unconsciousness, he looked down and saw something sticking out from his leg. Reaching his hand to his head, he pulled away and saw blood dripping to the floor, quickly making a puddle on the cold stone floor. The last thing he heard was a maniacal laugh ringing through the darkness and a bright light coming towards him.

Warning: This has fairly mature content and might not be suitable for some readers. You have been warned.

He woke up to find himself on a wooden deck of a boat, it came into a foggy harbor and knocked into the dock throwing Hiccup to the deck. "...hello? Is someone there?" He cried out into the thick fog. "...help..." he heard a woman cry out, he immediately got up and jumped to the dock running in the direction of the scream. He came over a hill and saw Berk, burning to the ground. The Great Hall was a heap of stone and marble, bodies of dead Vikings littered the steps. Huts were completely destroyed as they went up in smoke ashes flying into the air.

He looked around in horror, not believing what he saw. "...help...please" The desperate cry for help ripped him back to reality as he continued running. He found a body lying in the ground near the forge, an arrow sticking through her chest. "Oh Thor..." He ran over to her and gently rolled her over, she went into a coughing fit, blood spraying into the air. "It's ok, your going to be ok. Just... just stay with me." She grimaced before grabbing him by the shirt, "Where was you when... we needed you..." and her hand went limp as she breathed her last, staring up into the smoke filled sky with lifeless eyes.

Hiccup sat there appalled and realized who it was. "Oh Gods, this... this is Astrid's mother. If she's here, then where-" Suddenly, a voice interrupted him behind him. "Dead... all of them." Hiccup turned to see Stoick standing there leaning on a broken axe. Hiccup gasped and fell to the ground. "No, this isn't real, you're... you're-" Stoick picked up his destroyed axe throwing it over his shoulder.

"Dead... all of them. They join me now as they all slowly die. The riders were all picked off one by one with no one to lead them, they stood defenseless as babes as each one was killed. Valka was brought down by her own dragon controlled by the Bewilderbeast, she died without a son to help her. And Astrid, she was shot down over the dragon arena and fell to her death, they found her clutching her betrothal necklace in her hand. Stormfly resting dead beside her, an arrow piercing her heart."

Hiccup fell to his knees sobbing, "Their blood is on your hands, where was you Hiccup? A chief would not leave his people to go prove something to himself, a chief would not let his life get in the way if his duties to his people. You think your strong, the great dragon master Hiccup Haddock. Dragons have only torn us apart, and you stood there pretending you could keep the peace. But when the time came for you to take your responsibility serious, you did nothing!!" Hiccup said nothing as he sat there, tears streaming down his face, "Now look at you, crying like a wee babe. You are no chieftain, your not my son!"

Hiccup looked up at him, "This isn't real, they are all safe back on Berk, you are not here! THIS ISN'T REAL!!" Suddenly everything disappeared in a puff of smoke and only Stoick was left. He looked at Hiccup with a look of anger and disappointment, he turned to walk away but was stopped when a large hook protruded from his back making a sickening crunch. Its was slowly twisted and pulled back through, and Stoick fell to his knees dead before turning into smoke himself.

Drago stepped out from behind him, "Glad I could do it in person this time." He said wiping the blood off the hook on the grass. "You couldn't even save your father, how can you hope to be able to save an entire village." He slowly walked toward Hiccup. "No matter how many enemies you defeat more will keep coming." As he said this Viggo, Ryker and countless dragons appeared behind him each one with glowing eyes. The Bewilderbeast came into view towering over them all roaring.

"Stoick never told you what happened to that NightFury of yours, did he? He's still alive and looking for his rider. Endlessly searching for someone who he will never see again. Constantly flying, calling out in desperation hoping for his rider to appear and make everything better. He will keep looking until he dies from exhaustion, because you will never see him again. I'll make sure of that." He raised his Bullhook and stabbed downwards aiming straight for his heart.


	9. Darkness Of The Depths: Part 2

Hiccup slowly faded in and out of consciousness trying to regain his bearings.

(Flash) Darkness... (Flash) Something dragging me by my leg... (Flash) Head getting smacked into wall as I get thrown into it... (Flash) Darkness...

Hiccup groaned slowly regained consciousness rolling over on the cold stone floor, "Uhg, where am I..." he rolled too far and his broken right leg was smashed under him. He howled in agony rolling back over slowly looking down at his broken leg, the bone was pressing against the inside of his skin making a bump which was extremely swollen. He screamed again and laid there in pain, looking around he saw he was in some sort of room.

About five feet away was a large flat rock was placed in one corner with a blood stained Inferno resting on the edge, and a pen made of smaller rocks was full of lizards with their legs chopped off and bugs whose wings were clipped, Hiccups eyes went wide as the horrifying sight nearly caused him to vomit, the nauseating smell making his empty stomach roll. He heard a quiet humming and footsteps coming down one of the corridors, turning Hiccup tried to crawl his way over to the bed to reach Inferno.

Mere inches away, the sword was scooped up and taken out of sight, Hiccup slowly turned to see Dagur laughing, dangling Inferno between two fingers and a large squirming lizard in the other hand. "Hahaha!! You finally woke up, great! I didn't want to have a Hiccup rug lying in my floor forever, you totally mess up the Feng Shui of the room. Seriously, the writer needs a few lessons on interior decorating! No?" He turned back around to the pen and peeked inside, "See little lizard! This is where you'll be in a few moments, just have to deal with my old pal Hiccup." He said squeezing it tighter before letting it go.

Hiccup sat there speechless, "Dagur?!? What- uh, why are you here?!" Dagur laughed, "All will be explained brother, but first I have a few questions to ask you." He said pointing Inferno at him, "First of all, you dropped this. Secondly, your leg is broken. Eww, by the way. Thirdly, your head doesn't look to good. Fourthly, your clothes are ripped! And it looks like it's only going to get worse with every word typed! ...Wait... Where was I going with this? Oh right, you don't look like you're out on a Sunday fly with Toothless. So, why are you here?" He said leaning on Inferno, Hiccup sat up careful not to move his leg to much, "Um, ok... Well, it's a long story, but I'll tell you everything. Berk is in trouble, the Screaming Death is coming and we have no way to stop it. So I'm out hunting the Skrill to try-" Dagurs hand slipped and he fell to the ground, Inferno making a sharp clang.

He quickly got back up and stared at Hiccup, "What?!? Did you say, 'hunt' brother? Because I can let you do that, the Skrill is something I've been after for a looooong time, and you're not getting in my way!!" He slowly walked over Inferno in hand swinging it wildly, "You say you're hunting the Skrill, to what? Kill it?!? No brother, you're not taking it away from me! Not you! Not Toothless! Not anyone!" Hiccup scrambled back, but was quickly stopped when Dagur stomped on his broken leg pain shooting of Hiccups leg.

He screamed in agony as Dagur raised Inferno above his head. "You will not take this away from me!!" He drove the point downward straight for Hiccups heart, but stopped inches away. "Or... instead of killing you now and ending the story... I could use you to capture the Skrill myself. Live bait! Yes!" He put away Inferno and started dragging Hiccup out of the room and through one of the long hallways without another word.

Humming to himself, he noticed Hiccup who was trying to take of his foot to get away. "Oh no! That won't work at all! What good is a prisoner if he's escaping all the time, besides how long did you think you'd get before I caught and killed you?" He said ripping Hiccups foot off and started to hum again, "Do you like the song? It will get bigger than anything John Powell could ever dream of, I'm naming it after you. I'm calling it, 'Footloose'!" He said holding Hiccups leg up laughing, "Haha! Get it? Because your foot, it's- it's gone, so you're 'Footloose'... No? Anyway, back to planning time!!"

Hiccup stared at him appalled, "You're insane, what happened to you? What happened to the calm and collected Dagur? The one who doesn't kidnap people and rip their leg off!!" Dagur eerily smiled back, "That Dagur is gone, he was weak. This is the real Dagur! Thanks to that special 'worm kebab' I got from a secret admirer at last months mutton feast, my eyes have been opened like never before! I don't have to worry about anything, just myself and killing everything I can, but I won't give you the luxury of a quick death. You will be hand fed by me to the Skrill! Then it will finally trust me!!" He laughed maniacally and continued forward through each tunnel before he came to a large boulder, he clapped his hands together and shoved it to the side.

"Not that you're heavy, but dragging you around has really started to annoy me. Here build something." He said throwing Hiccup face first into a room on the other side of the boulder. Hiccup looked around to find pile after pile of parts and metal. "What is this place?" He said out loud, "Pfft, I don't know, but if you don't start building fast you might join the lizards in that pen!" Hiccup gulped before nodding and getting to work.

He quickly put together a splint made of twine and two sheets of metal for his broken leg, and having Dagur give him back his leg he fixed the bent foot. Shakily standing and resting on a table he stood there breathing heavily, Dagur clapped his hands. "Good for you! Now come on, and if you fall behind... well, you'd probably be a lot lighter without arms and legs." Hiccup took a few steps towards Dagur who had his back turned, quickly grabbing Inferno and bolted the other direction back down the cave as fast as he could shoving the boulder on his way past blocking the tunnel.

Dagur's scream of fury was cut short as the boulder blocked all sound with a resounding boom. Hiccup slowly hobbled back to the cavern room and took in his surroundings. He sat down on the bed and took a closer look at Inferno, the blade was bent and the canisters of gas and gel were empty. Sighing, he rest his head between his hands thinking about everything but food... food, his stomach rolled at the thought and Hiccup rubbed his stomach thinking of the last time he ate. Mm, Mutton Feast. Mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, chicken... urg, stop it. It's only making things worse. Hiccup shook his head and his eyes wandered over to the pen of lizards and bugs, "No, I won't do it. I'm not that desperate, but... how long till I am?" He sat there until he fell asleep, Inferno clutched in his hand.

Time is immeasurable when you're alone, scared, and in complete darkness. And even the greatest minds will eventually be worn down to nothing, Hiccup laid on the bed eating a piece of lizard cutting it into bits using Inferno. "Yeah, what he said. Anyway, I've been down here for a looong time. Mm, not enough o's there... maybe looooooooong time... yup, that's better. Now, it wasn't before long until I resorted to eating lizards and bugs. Surprisingly, they taste like chicken, psst. Don't tell Tuffnut. Yeah, I've also been in a lot of pain, a broken leg takes a long time to heal, and the worst part? Contrary to what I said in the first movie, I don't love pain!! It hurts, but the writer just seems to have an endless grudge against me! That's ok though, makes me tougher and more Viking like. Yup, that's why I'm here after all. To prove myself to everyone and myself, my mother and father, my tribe, and Astrid- Astr- ...why, did I abandon her. She-she means everything to me..." Hiccup shook his head and looked around coming out of insanity.

"What am I doing? Who- who am I talking to? ...I-I got to get out of here." He scooped up Inferno and took of his leg cast off his leg which looked well enough to stand on. He slowly stood up testing its limits, not hurting much when he put weight on it he stood looking around the small damp room looking for anything that might be useful, seeing nothing he started back into the cave. He walked down corridors and tunnels until coming back to the boulder he sealed Dagur behind in the tunnel.

He stood there wondering if he should move it or not, "Well, he was obviously knew a way to the surface, and if its through this tunnel... there isn't really any other choice." He slowly pushed it forward until he could squeeze through. He peeked around the edge looking and listening, he crept out and headed down the tunnel. He walked for what seemed forever until he heard a small noise, eyes wide he turned around fighting every instinct he had.

A pale shadow crept out of a tunnel coming around a corner to the sounds of humming. The shadow came around to reveal Dagur. His clothes in tatters hanging loosely from his body which fared no better as bones could be seen and his face gaunt and sunken in, but with a smile plastered on his face as he walked nearer and nearer. "Hiccup! I-I thought I'd never see you a-again, you left me there all alone. You- you shouldn't have done that, now it's time to make his a horror story." He screamed a blood curdling yell and charged towards him hands outstretched in front of him.

Hiccup turned and ran as fast as he could, Dagur close behind him, he took too many turns to remember and too many tunnels to keep track of until he came to a large room full of corridors. He frantically looked from one to the other, "...Oh brother, where are you?..." the voice called out from one of the tunnels reverberating around the room. Hiccup turned in circles trying to find out which one it came from, "Brother, didn't you know the trappers traps can trap the trapper? You-you trapped me here, I know these tunnels like the back of my hand! You thought you could escape me? I am Dagur, I am the killer of dragons, I am the killer of Hiccup Haddock the Third!!" Hiccup turned to see Dagur standing in one of the tunnels his hand resting on the outer edge.

"You thought you could escape... I am your only hope of getting out of here, follow me and I'll show you the way!" Hiccup looked back and forth frantically looking for a way out, Dagur laughed and slowly walked closer, "Still thinking about escaping, you don't know when to quit do you?" He charged at Hiccup again who took of running in the opposite direction. Running with all his might he ran down a long corridor with no turns and no other exits, Hiccup squinted his eyes seeing light ahead of him. "Yes!!" He ran with renewed energy as the light got closer, but as he got farther the tunnel got smaller, and smaller, until Hiccup was forced to crawl.

Dagur, in his never ending chase was right behind him screaming almost animalistic. Hiccup reached the mouth of the cave and covered his eyes from the blinding light as he landed on a patch of snow near the edge of a cliff going straight down into the icy sea nearly a hundred feet down. He had little time to relish the victory when Dagur came out of the cave as well screaming his name. "Brother!!" He looked around wildly his eyes still adjusting before seeing Hiccup standing a few feet in front of him. He laughed and ran towards him, Hiccup stood for a moment until it came to him.

'This isn't him! It finally makes sense, all that's left is... to let him win.' He backed towards the cliffs edge the snow crunching beneath his feet and stood there waiting for Dagur to reach him, Dagur leaped at him his hand grabbing Hiccups throat as they both fell into the frozen water below.

A large crash was heard as Dagur fell head first through the thin sheet of ice covering the waters surface, a white out of bubbles was all that could be seen as Hiccup and Dagur both slammed into the water. Hiccup heard a shrill shrieking and saw Grimoras borrow themselves out of Dagurs skin. Dagur's hands loosened around Hiccups throat and he passed out slowly sinking into the water.

Hiccup grabbed his hand and pulled him to the waters surface, he pulled them to the snowy shore coughing. He dragged Dagur beside him and collapsed on the beach beside him. Dagur coughed up water and rolled over on his side shaking, looking up he saw Hiccup lying next to him in the snow. He sat up and looked himself over, Hiccup stirred and sat up. "Nice to see you're back to your old self."

Dagur sat there shocked, "What happened? That last thing I remember is a eating a worm kebab and being dropped in a cave. What's been going on? And what's with all the snow?" Hiccup laughed and laid back down, "It's a long story, but first, we need to find Heather."

(1)Later at the Great Hall; Heather, Dagur and the twins all listed to Hiccups story as they ate. Heather listened carefully asking a few questions during certain parts, "So, how did Dagur get infected with Grimoras?" she asked leaning on her chair. Hiccup tapped his head, "I had to put the pieces together but I finally know. Ok, I sent the twins to look for Grimoras on our dragons after our most recent trip to the Edge. They sold them to Trader Johann, who sold them to a man in a large black coat, who in turn gave them to Dagur as food. Which made him go insane and attack me, it had to of been Alvin, he kept telling me to 'remember the water' but that raises another question. Why would he want to make it so obvious unless he has another motive, he has to have a reason, but first. I have to give Berk what that want, and what they want, is a Skrill. And I need your help to get one." Dagur, Heather and the twins all looked to one another.

Heather started to say something, but Tuffnut interrupted her, "No way, you have caused us much distress in our lives. There is no way-" he was stopped by Ruffnut who punched him in the face. "Listen up muttonhead, we've been goofing off enough here lately. Now it's time to show we aren't just the incompetent and eccentric twins everyone thinks we are." Hiccup stared in shock as Ruffnut turned to him, "Of course we'll help Hiccup, what do you need us to do?" She said smiling at him. "Thanks, I guess... Heather?"

Heather was staring in bewilderment, Dagur shook her gently and coughed. "Oh, of course we'll help, Berserker Island is on your side." Hiccup smiled, "Great. Oh, by the way, how long was we down there? A week? Two?" Heather looked down and the twins looked nervously back and forth while Dagur just continued eating. Hiccup raised an eyebrow, "Heather, how long was I down there?" She looked up to face him, "You was down there for eight weeks. It's near Winter now, we thought you was dead, about 6 weeks from the day you left, we had your funeral and everything."

She paused turning to the twins who nodded in agreement. "Hiccup, Astrid thinks you're dead, I never seen her cry, but-but she cried her eyes out in front of everyone. Anyone who tried to comfort her she turned away, and as soon as the boat went up in flames she turned and ran Thor knows where, without Stormfly or her axe. After I searched for and couldn't find her, I had to get back here so left, I tried sending Terror Mail but she hasn't said anything back. Berk is... changed, they started a new war on the dragons worse and more brutal than before. It's getting bad Hiccup, and you need to fix it."

Hiccup leaned back in his chair, "Oh Gods, I need to get back, now." He stood up from the chair and looked at each of them at the small table. "And the fastest way, is the Skrill, I can't use force anymore. Now, I'm doing this my way."

Hiccup stood facing the storm in his repaired armor when Heather came to stand beside him, "Hiccup, do you think this will work? I mean, you and the Skrill haven't always seen eye-to-eye." Hiccup shuffled his feet. "I'm not sure, but I have to try, besides. I've already been through just about the worst situation I can be in, what more could happen?"

Heather laughed nervously, "Well..." Hiccup grabbed her shoulders, "It will work and you know the plan, when it remembers me and sees my wings. I'll ride it to Berk and you and Dagur will meet me there, you have to believe in me." Heather smiled, "It had better, Astrid would kill you if you died." Hiccup laughed turning to face the storm. He walked in and looked to the cliffs to see Berserkers waiting with arrows and nets in case things went wrong.

He walked into the wind and rain once again and called out trying to get its attention, he heard its roar and turned to see it diving down towards him. It landed about three feet in front of him and slowly started towards him, Hiccup took a deep breath and stood his ground. It neared him and sniffed the air catching his scent, it roared blowing Hiccups hair underneath his helmet. He slowly took off his helmet and dropped it to the side opening his wing suit, the dragons eyes narrowed and leaned closer to look at him.

It took a deep breath and leaned back lowering its head, Hiccup sighed. "Yes, it worked." He raised his hand and the Skrill came towards him till it touched his hand. "Hey buddy, remember me?" The Skrill made a purring sounds and nuzzled closer. Hiccup signaled to the Vikings on the cliffs who backed away and got prepared for the next part of the plan. Hiccup got on the Skrills back and took of towards Berk, as fast as lightning.


	10. Extermination

This chapter is a flashback sequence of sorts, paragraphs marked (1) happens right after the chapter "Alvin being Treacherous" The same day Hiccup left Berk. Paragraphs marked (2) are exactly six weeks after Hiccup left. The ending of chapter 8: Part 2 is present time, this chapter is just telling what happened to Berk while Hiccup was down in the caves. I am sorry if this is confusing, comment if it is and I will try to fix it. Thank you, TheHTTYDexpert.

(1)Alvin raised his hands shouting, "To the forge! It's time to take back Berk, it's time to relearn what it means to be Viking!!" The crowd cheered and followed close behind him like a flock of hungry sheep. Alvin banged his fist on the forge door and Gobber opened it, the light coming from the lit forge casting an orange-ish glow around him as he stood there axe in hand. "If you think I'm just going to let you barge in her and let you use my forge. You're wrong." He raised his axe and Alvin laughed.

"I'm not using your forge, I'm using my forge, but please you're welcome to try and stop me!" He spread his hands and two large, burly Vikings stepped beside him cracking their knuckles. Gobber raised an eyebrow thinking of his chances, he lowered his axe and stepped out Grump following him. Alvin smiled and patted him on the back as he walked by, "Good choice. Now it's time to get to work." The forge was flooded with Vikings hammering sheets of metel, sparks flying with every blow.

They worked their way into the night as Spitelout watched worriedly from a distance, the firelight flickering in his eyes. Fishlegs came to stand beside him wringing his hands, "He's really going to do it... Berk is at war with the dragons, again." Spitelout grimaced, "Aye, that we are, but I don't think we can stop it. Judging by the amount of fire power here, he wont stop till every dragon is dead. And I'm not sure if I even want to stand by and watch. This isn't war, this is an extermination" He and other riders took flight to a nearby sea stack with a all the other Vikings who disagreed with Alvin, about a hundred or so, all sitting there in silence the dragons approached Berk.

Warning : This contains graphic moments and a great deal of death. Viewer discretion is strongly advised!!

The night of the attack the entire island was preparing themselves and the weapons, but one man was doing his own kind of preparing as he and his dragon slipped silently through the woods watching the nightmarish events unfold, flying low through the trees his dragon blended in becoming nearly invisible with its matching gray and green scales. The pair flew in perfect sync through the thick foliage leaving only the leaves and branches rustling in the wind as they soared by.

The man stopped suddenly and signaled for his dragon to stay low, as he jumped off and climbed up a towering tree leaping from branch to branch until he reached the top, overlooking the entire island near the top of Berk's highest mountain. Preparing himself for a night that would prove worthy watching.

Net launchers and traps were being placed all around the island, with Vikings standing ready to fire them at a moments notice. Alvin walked around shouting words of encouragement and praise, the dragon training arena was turned into a weapons stockhold overflowing with any sort of weapon imaginable, the dragon hanger Alvin filled with Monsterous Nightmare gel tanks hidden in a pile of yak and sheep meat, and if anyone asked why he did so, he simply stated, "It will be our last reminder of the dragons."

The dragons inside was placed in cages to lure the attacking dragons closer to the ground so hiding Vikings could close in on them, the entire island was prepared for battle, but no one could have ever dreamed of what would happen next. The first few dragons approached the island and flew directly for the trapped dragons in the cages who was screaming and roaring in distress, they landed and tried to rip the bars off.

The hidden Vikings lie crouched on the ground hidden behind bushes and carts awaiting Alvin's signal. Alvin looked over to a Viking hiding in a large barrel and nodded, who smiled a toothless grin and tucked himself tighter into the barrel he was hiding in. Alvin jumped out from behind a hut charging for the first dragon he came to, a Monsterous Nightmare trying free another from its cage, it raised its head eyes went wide with shock.

Alvin rushed it while it was still disoriented jumping towards it slicing at its chest, blood spilling to the ground. It roared in pain and anger before lunging at Alvin, but he rolled under it holding his sword up and let the dragon cut itself nearly in two as it went over him. It landed in a heap falling to the ground bleeding out. Alvin stood over the dying dragon as it turned to look at him, the light fading out of its eyes as it let out one final weak roar before laying its head down and died.

The dragon in the cage raised its head and gave a small cry into the sky for the loss of life. Alvin turned and smashed his bloodied sword against the side. Terrified, the dragon shrank against the opposite side of the cage starting at the lifeless body in terror. Alvin leaned closer, "That dragons death will be the first of many. I don't plan to leave any dragon left standing." And with that he raised his hands into the air and laughed, "The age of Vikings on the backs of dragons, is over!! It is time for the Vikings to rise once again! Every Viking who hopes to have a life worth living, ATTACK!!"

Then, Berk exploded. Dragons dropped from the sky like rain as the nets and archers came to life shooting into the sky, hiding Vikings leapt into action hacking and slicing every dragon in sight. The dragons all roared and dove towards the advancing Vikings, one man brandishing a club was quickly dispatched by a Thunderdrum who let loose a supersonic roar while flying towards him and the man exploded into nothingness, all that was left of him was a bloody bare patch on the ground.

A Changewing sneaked up on a man hacking away at a Deadly Nadder, it grabbed him by the foot and steered dragging him backwards, the screaming man was dragged into a empty hut, his horrified scream cut off by the sound of cracking bones. The dragons clawed, bit, and roasted every thing in sight, some picked Vikings off their feet and dropped them from great heights killing them instantly, but Berk wasn't going down without a fight.

The archers shot hundreds of arrows into the air causing a rain of death on anything in their path taking out packs of dragons at a time, the ones brandishing swords, axes, spears and clubs went in for the kill as defenseless dragons fell from the sky. The entire island was in bloody chaos as the fighting continued to escalate, bleeding bodies littered all over.

Alvin stood at the top of a ridge near the battle, "I didn't want this... he said it would be over fast. An easy win, no chance of hope for the dragons..." he was stopped by Mildew who walked up beside him Fungus hiding behind his legs. "Gods, what- what have we done, what do we do?" He asked with an appalled look on his face glancing up to Alvin whose face was blank as a stone wall. "We continue, there's nothing we can do."

He looked over to the Dragon Hanger where hundreds of dragons flooded the small space to gorge themsleves on the meat. Alvin steadily walked down the hill and grabbed a torch from a nearby building, Mildew came running beside him. "Alvin, is this necassary? To much blood has been spilled already, Viking and dragon." Alvin turned to him facing the Hangar, "We will lose, every Viking will die unless this happens, Spitelout was right. The dragons adapted and evolved to beat us, but if your still the weak man you always was, you belong with the dead." Mildew nodded solemnly as he held his hand out gesturing towards the Hangar.

Alvin gripped the torch and threw it into the hanger, a Viking who had just beheaded a Gronckle was standing near the Hangar and watched the flaming torch sail over his head as if in slow motion. He looked over to Alvin and nodded, putting his sword in front of his face, grimly accepting his fate. The torch landed right into a canister of Monsterous Nightmare gel.

The Hanger and everything near it, Vikings and dragons, was disintegrated as the world shook with the force of the blast, knocking all who wasn't killed by the explosion to the ground. The blast resounded off the cliffs and rock faces as dragons flew off in a dazed retreat. The smoke cloud seemed to reach up to Valhalla as debris shot through the air at ground level tearing everything in its path to shreds as a massive shockwave propelled it forward at a fatal speed.

Even more debris rained down peppering the ground, boards and pieces of metal sinking into the ground, one large piece of a beam impaled a woman stabbing through her leg as it fell to the ground sticking up from the screaming Viking. Alvin picked himself up and looked to his right to see Mildew lying on the ground, a peice of shrapnel metal lodged in his chest pinning him to the wall of a hut behind him. A trail of blood coming from his gaping mouth as he stared into the distance with dead eyes, Fungus licking his cold hand bleating in sorrow.

Alvin sighed and looked around him at the destruction, huts within the radius of the blast was reduced to ash. Vikings laid injured and dead all around him, he limped over to the edge to find a steaming, gaping hole in the side of the cliff face where the hangar used to be. Walking back towards the middle of the village through the smoke and fog he saw Valka standing near the demolished Great Hall, her eyes clenched shut tears streaming down her face.

"Valka... I-I didn't expect this to happen... I-" She cut him off by turning around holding her hand up. "No Alvin, you didn't, but it happened. Berk is destroyed, the dragons will never come back. So your mission of revenge is complete, you efficiently destroyed everything Stoick and Hiccup help make in a single night, which is more than Drago could do with an entire dragon army. And you, what did you gain from this? Most of your so called 'followers' are dead or dying, Berk is in shambles, and every living person will never see you as anything more than a cold blooded murderer. Tell me Alvin, why did you do this to Berk, a fight with Stoick isn't enough for a man to want to kill an entire village?"

He stood there in silence before turning and walking past her, Valka's hands clenched as he turned his back on her. "You're a coward Alvin the Treacherous! You will never be cleansed of this stain! You will never be peaceful again!!"

He turned towards her with a look of pure regret and sadness, "I know, this is all my fault, but this isn't the worst part. The worst part is, I'm just following orders from someone who would do much more than this and not lose a single second of sleep over it." Slowly with heavy steps he walked up the demolished Great Hall's once elegant steps before shutting the door with a resounding boom. Leaving Valka standing in stunned silence, thinking to herself in horror, 'Who could be so twisted and evil to want more than this?' (1)

Six weeks after Hiccup left Berk.

(2) Six weeks is how long it took for Berk to be somewhat rebuilt after the tragic night of the dragon attack, of the seven hundred or so Berkians, only three hundred and two remained. And with Alvin being distant and always locking himself in the private quarters he was almost never seen, only giving orders on what to rebuild first.

The riders was all that was giving Berk hope as they anxiously awaited Hiccups return with Astrid being the most eager, every day she would send a Terror Mail to Heather in the hopes of hearing anything about him, but Heather said the same thing back, "I don't know, I haven't seen or heard of him. I'm sorry." Netherless she never gave up hope, but on the exact same day when he left six weeks ago she got up from her bed where she was crying over Hiccup.

She slowly walked back to the makeshift Dragon Hangar built from raw materials such as pieces of metal and logs to get Toothless when she saw a large group near the Great Hall, she came closer and heard Hiccups name be called. She ran towards the group in the hopes of seeing him in the middle of the crowd waiting for her, "Hiccup! You're back!" She said shoving her way through the small crowd, she emerged in the middle to see Heather standing there with a frown on her face.

Astrid's smile melted away, "Heather? Wha- what are you doing here? Where's Hiccup?" She looked around and saw Valka standing to the side crying. Heather walked over to Astrid and grabbed her hand, "Astrid, it's been six weeks. I went back to where I left him and traveled into the storm myself to look for him. I found a massive boulder covering a hole leading into the caves, with Skrill claw marks all around it, Hiccups helmet was resting beside it cracked in two."

Astrid suddenly got dizzy, the world spinning around and her breath coming in short gasps. "No... no, it's not right. He- he has to be there." Heather looked down before looking her in the eyes, "Astrid, Hiccups dead... no one survives in those caves. He might be smart, but even he couldn't make it out of those caves... he- he's just... gone. I am so sorry." Astrid looked left and right seeing everything blur in a rush of color as she slowly fell to the ground letting out a heart wrenching cry.

Heather leaned down next to her and put her hand on Astrids shoulder trying to comfort her, "Astrid, it's ok. Everything's going to be ok." Astrid sat there sobbing, tears falling into the dry dirt. "No! It's not true! It can't be! I-I... Hiccup!!" She put her head in her hands and cried, her tears falling to the dry dirt. Everyone looked to the ground miserably, Fishlegs was crying with his body draped over Meatlug. Snotlout tried to hold in the tears but even he felt a few stream down his face, the twins was sitting sadly on Barf and Belch staring off into space with blank expressions on their faces.

Hearing the commotion outside Alvin opened the doors, his now wrinkled face looking gaunt and sickly, "What's going on out here?! Why aren't you all working!?" Spitelout walked up to him with a grimace on his face, "Hiccup is dead, and you are the reason he is. Show some respect for our fallen Chieftain." Alvin's face slackened and he turned his face in shame. "I- I'll have a funeral prye built immediately..."

Astrid looked up from sobbing, her eyes puffy and red. "You will not do a thing for him!! You destroyed Berk, a person who hasn't done anything for it, but the people followed because they was desperate for power not peace. And by sending him on that quest, you killed our true Chieftain Hiccup!!" Coming down from her fit she wiped her face and stood up nearly falling down if Heather hadn't caught her, "The Dragon Riders will make the prye, not you. He should be honored by his friends and family, not the person who forced him to walk to his grave."

And with that she walked away towards Hiccups hut. The people gathered looked purely ashamed and horrified at what they done before all eyes turned to Alvin, staring at him with a look of pure hatred and loathing as he turned and went back into the Great Hall, taking one more look at the crowd he shook his head and walked inside.

Reaching Hiccups hut, Astrid stood by the door about to knock when her hand fell to her side, the realization hitting her, and opened the door slowly. Looking inside she saw walked over to his desk where the original drawings of Toothless and his first tail fin rested. She looked up on the wall and stared at the first one Gobber made him, thinking of all the times she had seen it, tattered and torn she could still make out the symbol on the top.

She bit her lip and held in a sob, tenderly grabbing it from the wall, Toothless came up beside her and sniffed it before letting out a low purring noise staring at it with wide eyes as if entranced. Astrid hugged it to her chest holding in the tears, she gently set it done on his bed and wrapped it in cloth. Reaching around her neck she pulled her betrothal necklace off and rested it on top of the bundle, "Hiccup, I-I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, but I'll make things right again. I promise." With that she walked out the door into the sun.

The prye was built with such skill and precision, Hiccup would have been impressed himself. Gobber and Fishlegs gathered as much Gronckle Iron they could, and infused it with Death Song Amber giving the metal an orange hue to it. It was an elaborate box which had the NightFury Strike class symbol on the head of it made out of solid gold, the other class symbols ran along the side meeting on the end where the Chieftain symbol was placed on the foot of the box, underneath the crest they had Viking runes written that read, "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock lll, Dragon Master and Chieftain of Berk"

All of Berk gathered at the docks to pay their respect by giving offerings of medals and precious items by putting them in the empty prye . When it came time to burn it, Astrid took a step forward with Toothless's first tail fin and harness wrapped delicately in a cloth with the necklace resting on the top. She opened it and rested it on the prye putting the medallion over the symbol on the tail fin.

"Hiccup, you died trying to prove yourself to us, but I always knew what you was. You was Hiccup Haddock, the greatest Chieftain of Berk, the greatest dragon rider to ever live, a friend like no other, an-and a future husband like any girl could ever dream for. It doesn't matter if you wasn't ever the standard Viking type, you knew who was even before you met Toothless. Being a Viking doesn't mean being tough and strong, it means standing for what you fight for and never backing down. Anyone could bring people together, but you went beyond that and brought two worlds together. Humans and dragons together in perfect harmony, something we always thought was impossible until you made it possible. You fought with your last breath to keep the peace and keep us safe, and we will never know how much you truly risked for us. You have given so much to this tribe and this world, and no one will ever forget you, ever." Her voice stuttered and she fell to her knees.

Snotlout came to stand beside her looking out over the water. "Hiccup, you was there for me even when I bullied you beyond reason. I only did it because I was jealous of you, the Viking who had it all. The NightFury, the whole island of Berk, a sword that can catch on fire, and a future betrothed, there wasn't anything you didn't have that you didn't fight to get it. That's what it means to be a Viking, that's what it means to be a Chieftain. There do I see my father, my mother, and my brothers and my sisters. They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla... where the brave shall live forever." He paused wiping a tear from his eye and sniffing his nose. "I can only hope to be half the man you was, rest in peace my friend, see you in Valhalla." He tossed in his stood aside wiping a tear away taking his helmet off and placing it gently down near the medallion.

He stood up straight as Astrid looked up to him and smiled. "Thank you." Snotlout smiled warmly back, "He deserved it, and your right... he really is the greatest Chieftain and Dragon Rider of all time." She grinned nodding while Snotlout offered her his hand to help her up. "Ready?" He asked warily, "Yes." Astrid said strongly straining up.

"May the Valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For a great man has fallen. A warrior. A chieftain. A friend. A- a betrothed. Goodbye Hiccup, see you in Valhalla." Astrid stifled a cry as she turned to see the entire village raise bows and lighted arrows in respect and gratitude for their Chieftain. They all carefully aimed and fired.

The boat was filled with flames as the arrows all hit their mark. Slowly engulfing the boat in flames as Astrids mind went to the day when Hiccup did the same for his father. So noble and brave, and... now he's gone, 'why-why did I abandon him? I-I should have saved him...' Valka came over to her and grabbed her hand, "Hiccup told me before he left, that he didn't want you to hang on to his memory if something happened to him. He wanted you to move on, not forget him, but not let him hold you back. He's up in Valhalla watching us right now, smiling down, he was the bravest Viking I know and he could t have asked for someone to be there for him his entire life than you. Hiccup- Hiccup just wanted you to be happy."

Astrid shrugged away. "But I wasn't there for him, I left him when he needed me, I-I just need some time alone." Valka had a worried expression on her face as Astrid walked past Stormfly without even acknowledging her as she ran off into the woods disappearing into the trees. Valka turned back to the water and stared out at the burning boat, "Hiccup, you had the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon. I am proud to call you my son." She turned away and walked slowly back towards the village, all of Berk following her. (2)


	11. The Ranger’s Revenge

Warning: This chapter contains slight graphic content and death. Viewer Discretion is advised

This chapter and the rest of the story is nearly eight weeks after Hiccup left Berk. It goes from Hiccups PoV to Berk's.

Riding a Skrill through a constant thunderstorm was something Hiccup would never forget, but not in a good way. The unrelenting rain was soaking his clothes making him nearly slide off the dragons back with every flap of its wings, the thunder and lightning left him almost blind and deaf, but luckily his helmet blocked most of the noise.

And to top it all off, his past broken leg kept bashing against its side causing it to throb in pain. Suddenly they came to a stop hundreds of feet above the sea, Hiccup falling forward nearly impaling himself on the head spikes, he looked and saw the Skrill frantically waving its head back and forth clearly agitated. "What's wrong?" The Skrill let out a roar and turned around, headed back towards Berserker Island. "Whoah! Where are you going? Berk is that way, you should know. You've attacked it plenty of times now!" The Skrill turned its head glaring at him, Hiccup shrugged rolling his eyes. "What?! It's true."

Hiccup yanked back towards Berk and the Skrill slowly turned back around, Hiccup noticed it kept looking warily towards the water as it flew. "What are you-" As he said this he saw a dark shape move through the water. He squinted through the rain trying to see it clearer. "What the Thor is that?" He watched it swim closer and closer until it broke apart into about thirty separate shapes gliding through the water. "Wait a minute, those are Scauldrons!" Their heads broke the surface and they slowly rose out of the water flying after them.

The Skrill went into a panic whipping around and retreating back towards Berserker Island, Hiccup grabbed the spikes and turned it back towards the dragons, "Come on! We can take them!!" The Skrill shook Hiccup around and they sat there hovering in open air. Hiccup reached down and pet the side of its head. "We got this, you just need to trust me." The Skrill turned to look at him and gave a small noise, like a soft crackling sound.

Hiccup smiled and wiped the pushed the spikes making the Skrill dive down, he looked from side to side noticing they was going so fast, they was keeping up with the falling rain. As they neared the oncoming Scauldrons, the dragons shot a super heated blasts of water at them and tried to knock Hiccup off so they could take the Skrill alone, but Hiccup getting tired of ducking and weaving, he nodded to the Skrill who let out a roar as Hiccup pulled the Skrill to the left narrowly missing a spray, the Skrill blasted a shot of lightning and knocked the dragon that sent the blast out of the sky. It fell to the water where it disappeared into the blackness.

Enraged the other dragons charged them with renewed effort. Hiccup smiled and pet the Skrill who roared in anticipation, "Play time is over, lets see what you can do." They climbed high in the air before flipping back and dove at top speed, Hiccup's mask nearly blowing off in the blinding speed. The Skrill shot blast after blast as he flew over and under the dragons, which wasn't nearly fast enough to catch them.

The pair seemed invincible as they knocked Scauldrons out of the sky like flies, they came to a stop in with the Scauldrons closing in on all sides. Hiccup looked all around trying to find a way out, but the Skrill closed its eyes and seemed to vibrate. Hiccup looked down to see the Skrill turn its head up to the clouds with its eyes closed, lightning came surging down from the clouds and coursed around the Skrills entire body. Hiccup's hair stood on end as the Skrill's eyes shot open glowing electric blue as the lightning coursed over its body gathering at its head.

It let out a blood curdling roar that cut through the air as it opened its jaw, its mouth glowing bright blue. Hiccup leaned down as the Skrill let loose powerful bolt of solid lightning that cut through the air towards the closest dragon in front of them. The Scauldrons head lashed up as it tried to dodge the bolt, but was caught right in the chest as the bolt ran through it, going straight through its heart killing it instantly. The blast seemed unable of escaping as the Skrill turned a complete circle shooting the solid beam at every single dragon. Hiccup sat up ripping his helmet off watching the dragons fall limply to the ocean before hitting the water sending plumes of water up into the air.

He turned his eyes towards the Skrill who was completely out of energy, "So that's what was keeping you trapped here? A pod of Scauldrons, but why are they here? They're normally found a lot closer to Berk." The Skrill let out a roar and took off before Hiccup had time to hold on, nearly making him fall off. Hiccup sat back up shouting in protest, "Hey! I was trying to think!" The Skrill let out a laugh that sounded like thunder as they flew towards Berk.

Berk's PoV.

It's been two weeks since Hiccup was declared dead. The dead from the war was being put in a massive boat to be sunk at sea, but was forgotten, the boat still harbored at the docks. The rotting flesh and bodies making a horrendous smell. Buildings wasn't being repaired or built, and what was still standing was falling apart, there hasn't been any dragons since the extermination, the Riders have all given up hope and Astrid hasn't come out of her hut since the funeral.

And Alvin, he was still locked away in the Great Hall's Chieftain Chamber. Berk was dead, no matter how much the other villages and islands tried to help, the damage physically and mentally could not be replaced. Berk, the greatest island and Vikings to ever live, would fade into nothingness. The dragons disappeared, now, the humans were too. The Screaming Death drawing closer everyday, and with no Vikings or dragons to stop it, Berk would be wiped from the face of the earth. Along with all memories of all that great feats that was accomplished there.

Valka sat on a sea stack on the cool morning grass with Cloudjumper, overlooking the seemingly endless ocean. He nudged her side and purred as if trying to cheer her up, she softly smiled and pet his head, leaning back against him twirling her staff in her hands slowly. "What now Cloudjumper? One moment I had everything, Stoick, my son, and now that I just both of them back. They're gone again, for good. I'll never be able to forgive myself for not being there." Sanding up, she went over to Cloudjumper, but stopped when she saw a small spec in the distance.

Her heart leapt as she thought it could have been Hiccup, but was quickly disappointed when she saw it was Eret and Skullcrusher. She stood there with her arms resting on her hips until he landed in front of her with a large thud. He hopped off and walked over to her, "Any news of the Screaming Death?" She asked as Eret pulled out his sword and started cleaning the blade. "Only that it's getting closer, we saw it at Breakneck Bog." Valka nodded solemnly, "What of the dragons?" Eret stopped cleaning and sheathed the blade. "Gone, they've all disappeared. We didn't see any signs of life anywhere from there to here. The dragons seemed to have... disappeared."

Valka let out a sigh, shaking her head as she climbed on Cloudjumper, she turned back to Eret as she was about to fly back to Berk. "I'll go and tell the other Dragon Riders." Eret grabbed her led looking up to her. "Valka, Hiccup or no Hiccup, it's up to us now to take care of Berk. I saw we leave and relocate, let Berk go." Valka looked down at him sadly, "I know I haven't been back long, abandoning the island doesn't feel right. Something is telling me to stay."

Eret shook his head, "There is no reason to stay, if we don't go, we all die. We have to let it go." Valka looked down to him with tears in her eyes, she nodded and turned. "Come on, we need to be getting back to Berk, looks like a storm is coming, and we best be gone before it hits" She flew off leaving Eret alone, he walked over to Skullcrusher, they both flew off towards Berk not seeing what he storm really was. The Skrill.

Hiccup yelled out in triumph as Berk came into view, pushing the Skrill to its top speed he heard a deafening boom. He looked from side to side, the world seemed to be a blur as he sped towards land, he'd never gone this fast, not even riding Toothless. They got closer and closer before Hiccup saw what Berk had become, a desolate wasteland. He looked over to where the Hangar used to be and saw nothing but a giant blackened hole, ripping his mask off he looked closer.

Nearly all buildings were destroyed or being rebuilt, all his inventions and ideas turned to dust. Hiccup let out an anguished cry when he saw a massive funeral boat filled with dead rotting bodies of his fellow Vikings, his own people dead. He flew over the village but saw no one walking the streets, no lights in the huts, and no dragons in the sky. Hiccup laid his head on the Skrill and cried, he raised his head and shouted to the sky above him, "Why! What did I do to deserve this! What did I do wrong!" He yelled out in anger and flew the Skrill down to his hut, opening the door he saw his room was destroyed.

Toothless's pad was spilt down the middle and the original tail was missing from the wall. He walked over to his desk and saw a letter sitting on the top of all the drawings, pinned to the "To the Viking that finds this, this is a warning. Do not stay here, the Screaming Death is coming and all you see will be destroyed, try to save your island while you still can. Do not stay, do not try to help. Berk is dead, the dragons are gone, and the great Hiccup Haddock is dead. -Valka Haddock of the Hairy Hooligan tribe" Hiccup looked over and saw Astrid's axe lying on his bed. He chocked and dropped the letter clutching his heart.

He stumbled falling to his knees before giving an anguished yell, his heart broken cry echoing through the empty hut. Trying to stand he took Astrid's axe, and held it. He stared at it, his tears running down his face onto the floor, he walked over to the door and looked around at the destruction. The Skrill was standing over by the Great Hall entrance sniffing at the door. Hiccup slowly walked over to it and put his hand on the door, running his hand over the intricate carvings.

He pushed the door open and a horrible smell filled nostrils as he walked further, looking around he saw the tapestries ripped from the wall and the table overturned. He walked slowly up the steps, the smell growing stronger and stronger, the throne was turned facing out a small window near the back of the hall. Hiccup raised Astrid's axe and walked around it to the front of it, what he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Alvin's rotting body, his eyes open in a lifeless stare, his neck was cut open, with dried blood running down his front spilling on the floor. Hiccup stumbled back and turning gagging, he held his hand over his mouth as he turned back around, stuck on one of the horns of his helmet was another note. 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, I know you are alive, I know you killed my Scauldrons, and I know you will do what I say. And when you do, if you do not do exactly what I say, I will kill every survivor that escaped the war. Meet me on the Northern side of the island, I will be waiting for you. Come alone.' Hiccup crumpled the note and yelled in anger, charging out side the Skrill backed out of his way as he slammed the Hall's door. Hiccup led the Skrill to his hut and closed it inside, "Stay here." He told the Skrill as he grabbed some Monstrous Nightmare gel and Zippleback gas canisters from his desk. He charged out the door, locking it, and the Skrill watched him run into the woods, until he was out of sight.

Hiccup ran through the snow as fast as he could chopping any thing that stood in his way. He reached the cliff edge and turned in circles, "I'm here! Come out, I'm alone, now what do you want!" He turned when he saw a man step behind a boulder, he was much shorter than Hiccup standing at about 5 foot tall, and was extremely thin. His pale face was covered by a mask made from a Screaming Death scale, and he wore a long white coat that blended into the snow, he walked in front of the boulder laughing, his voice rough and hoarse.

He pulled a small double edged knife with a handle made from a Monsterous Nightmare horn out of his cloak and held his hands out. "Oh my, I must say. I expected more, but I guess when you haven't seen someone in twenty years and hear stories of a great dragon master, you get your hopes up." Hiccup screamed in rage and raised the axe leaping towards him slashing down, the man quickly side stepped and brought his knifes handle down onto Hiccup's back knocking him to the ground.

Hiccup dropped Astrid's axe falling in the snow, he looked up and saw the man pick the axe up looking it over. "Did you make this? I am impressed! Quite the fine weapon, has the initials AH written on it, must be that Hofferson girl, she's quite the warrior, but sadly even she couldn't stop me. Tried hard though, gave me a good scratch or two, but sadly I can't have you attacking me with her weapon can I?" He grabbed it with both hands and brought it down on his knee, snapping it in two. "No!" Hiccup screamed scrambling to his feet.

The man smiled looking at the two pieces before throwing them into the sea, Hiccup stood shaking with anger. The man just rolled his eyes and leaned against a tree, "Come now. You attacked me with an axe and it didn't work, you seriously aren't thinking about attacking me empty handed do you?" Hiccup reached down and pulled Inferno from his leg, he lit the blade and charged the man.

Screaming in rage, Hiccup slashed and cut through the cold air but the man seemed to know every move he was going to make, dodging each swipe easily. Hiccup continued backing him towards the edge of the cliff, the man looked down before at the icy water turning to Hiccup shrugging. "Too cold for me." He pulled out a second knife and advance towards Hiccup, they traded blow after blow, but never connecting with their bodies.

Hiccup suddenly stabbed towards the left and the man went right, Hiccup sprayed gas into the air in front of the man and swiped Inferno through the cloud igniting it. It blew the man backwards off his feet landing heavily in the snow, dazed he raised his head turning towards Hiccup. His mask was cracked down the middle and blood was dripping out from the bottom, "So he can fight! I haven't been knocked to the ground in a long time! You've just earned yourself a long and slow death!" He stood up, blood running down the front of his coat, the blood ran down staining the fabric.

"Well, I guess I have to get another coat." He said, with a tone of annoyance. Grabbing the folds he held the fabric in his hands, "This coat is made from a very special dragon, the Snow Wraith. The skin is very light yet durable, and it is heavily insulted from the cold, my mask is-" He was stopped short by Hiccup kicking him in the chest dropping him to the ground again.

Hiccup sneered down at him putting his foot on the man's chest, "I don't care what it's made out of, just tell me where everyone is!" The man laughed and put his hands under his head, "Is this what you call a threat? I could have killed you before you even saw me, yet I didn't." Hiccup pressed his foot harder, "Get on with it!" The man coughed and grunted under the strain. "I was stalling! So one of my men could get behind you! Oh, whoops." Suddenly a bag was fitted over Hiccups head and everything went black as he was hit on the head with a large bludgeon.

Hiccup crumpled to the ground, dazed, he tried rip the bag from his head but was quickly stopped when his hands was tied together as he felt someone pick him up and thrown over their shoulder. Hiccup heard the cloaked man stand and brush his coat off, grabbing Inferno. "Hm, nice sword. I guess you aren't as smart as I thought, I was going to make a trade with you, but I guess I'll just kill everyone now. Take him to the boat. I have a pest to get rid of." He heard the cloaked man walk away, his feet crunching the soft snow.

The man that picked Hiccup up carried him through the trees smacking Hiccup into every tree they went by. When suddenly Hiccup heard a scream and was dropped to the ground. Hiccup landed in the snow and heard the scream cut short as something made a sickening crunch. Hiccup heard footsteps behind him and felt something crouch behind him.

He started to try and move when a hand grabbed his shoulder, a soft but firm voice whispered in his ear, "Don't move! Do you want to be killed?" Hiccup's eyes went wide in the sack and he stopped moving while the rope that tied his hands together was cut. Hiccup quickly reached up and pulled the sack of his head but saw nothing but footsteps in the snow. He stood up slowly looking to his left and finding Inferno lying next to him, Hiccup stared at it before slowly picking it up brushing the snow from it.

He turned to see an arrow sticking out of a large Viking's chest, blood running down his dark fur coat. He went over to look at the arrow but turned when he heard a rattling noise in front of him. He quickly hid behind a bush and peeked over cautiously, ten men was leading the entire village in chains through the trees along the cliff side towards the docks. Hiccups heart stopped when he saw the Riders, they were all cut and bruised with Astrid, who didn't appear to be moving, was being carried by Eret.

Growling in anger, Hiccup started to grab Inferno when something softly tapped his shoulder. He jumped turning to see a tall hooded man bring a finger to his lips. He was wearing a mottled green and grey cloak that blended perfectly into the foliage around him, his hood covering his face. Two large knives was fastened in holsters on each leg. He slowly reached behind him grabbing a longbow and arrow from the quiver.

Notching the first arrow carefully aiming at the guards, Hiccup grabbed his arm whispering. "Don't hit the villagers." The man smiled chuckling, "I've been watching you for the past month deciding wether your worth my time. You and this island have hundreds of trained dragons, one being an alpha NightFury. You and your village are worth a few arrows." Hiccup nodded stepping back. Exhaling the man loosed the first arrow shooting the first guard in back.

The man fell to the ground silently, blood spilling on the snow, the guard next to him shouted to the group "Oh Gods... He's here! Move! You there, find him and bring me his head!!" He said to one, who started running towards them. The rest shoved the villagers faster as they looked around trying to see what was happening. The hooded man just smiled as he grabbed another arrow and raised his bow. "Haha, a challenge."


	12. A Hiccup In The Journey

Warning: This chapter is graphic and has a large amount of death. Viewer Discretion is advised

"Haha, a challenge." The man quickly grabbed another arrow and shot it towards the man running towards him. It hit the man square in the chest as he fell to the ground, blood staining the white snow. Unfazed, the archer pulled out another arrow and quickly notched it. The men was forcing the Vikings into a run as they continued down the cliff edge, "Move! Or get left behind to die!" One man shouted to them smacking his blade against his shield.

The Riders was looking back trying to see what has happening, but Hiccup was crouched behind a bush and the man was nearly invisible with his cloak. The archer was quickly taking out the Viking's one by one, each arrow hitting its mark. The snow was littered dead with bodies, some of the villagers started pulling on the chains trying to break free. The archer pulled one more arrow and aimed it at the last man standing.

In desperation the man grabbed a woman from the line and pulled her in front of him, she screamed as he put a knife to her throat and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Shoot me and you'll kill her." The archer snarled and lowered his bow walking out into the open, the man smiled and tightened his grip on the woman, tears streaming down her face. "Let's make a deal, you let me live and I'll release the woman and never bother you again. Do we have a deal?" The archer nodded, but hid his bow behind his back quietly notching another arrow. "Deal. Now let the woman go."

The man smiled and loosed his grip on the woman, she dropped to the ground gasping and clutching her throat. The man raised his hands and started walking away, with the mans back turned the archer raised his bow, "Live a hunter, die a hunter." Exhaling, he shot the final arrow and Hiccup watched it in slow motion as it soared through the air towards the man.

The man let out a cry as the arrow sunk into his back and through his heart until the tip was seen protruding out his chest. The man slowly turned, a look of confusion on his face, he held his hand over the tip of the bloodied arrow struggling to speak. "We- we had a- a deal." He coughed blood and fell face down in the snow.

The villagers stood in complete shock staring the lifeless body, the archer grimaced and went over the dead man grabbing a set of keys from his belt. He threw it to a near the front of the line, who caught it and quickly went to work unlocking everyone. The archer looked over to the bush where Hiccup was and nodded, breathing heavily, Hiccup stood up and stepped out in the open. The entire forest clearing was filled with the sounds of gasping, Eret smiled as he set Astrid gently to the ground.

Valka slowly walked over to Hiccup reaching her hand out, the entire village watching her every move. "Hi- Hiccup, are you... are you real?" Hiccup reached out and took her hand, she gasped reaching up brushing her hand on his face. "I'm here mom, I'm real. Everything is ok." Valka made a choking noise as tears welled up in her eyes, letting out a small cry, she wrapped him in a crushing hug which he returned.

They stood ther hugging until she reached behind his head running her hand though his hair. "Oh Hiccup, where have you been." She paused stepping back holding her hands to her mouth. "Hiccup, we thought you was dead." Hiccup smiled with tears in his eyes. "I made it out of the caves, I trained the Skrill, and all of Berserker Island is headed this way. We can fix this!" Valka smiled giving him one more hug.

All of Berk erupted into cheering and screaming, but Hiccup didn't care, he looked around and saw Astrid lying on the ground unconscious. Hiccup walked over and kneeled down next to her, gently he brushed her bangs aside and turned to Eret. "What happened to her?"

Eret grabbed his hand which Hiccup saw was badly cut across the top. "A man in a white cloak ambushed us with an entire army of men, they captured all the dragons left and hauled them away in cages towards the training areana, he caught us off guard and overpowered us. Astrid was the last one standing to fight, she came out of her hut when she heard the commotion. She attacked any who dared to get close to your hut, even that leader of theirs, but someone blew some kind of poison dart into the back of her neck. He would have killed her, but Valka stopped him, took her axe into your hut and I volunteered to carry Astrid, she should be waking up the next morning, Fishlegs tested the poison."

Hiccup lifted her head and saw a large bruise where the barb had struck her. Gently, turned her back over and laid her head in his lap. Scowling he pounded his fist into the snow, "I'll kill him! With my bare hands!" The archer came over and put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder, Hiccup looked up to him, anger flaring in his eyes. "You can't possibly hope to take him down alone, do you?" The archer said concernedly, standing above Hiccup.

Suddenly, Snotlout came to stand beside Hiccup puffing his chest out. "He's not alone." He nodded as every single Berkian came to make a circle around Hiccup and Astrid, all taking their helmets off before kneeling to him. Hiccup smiled to Snotlout before turning to the archer, "Is that a good enough answer for you?" The man just crossed his arms before gesturing back to the town. "So, are we going to take back the town or not?" Hiccup stood up carrying Astrid in his arms. "Yes, but first. We need something, something important." The archer tapped his foot impatiently, "And what might that be?" Hiccup smiled before turning to all the Berkians behind him. "Dragons"

(1)The sun was slowly sinking on the horizon until it disappeared completely, Eret ran up beside Hiccup who still carried Astrid while also leading everyone. "Hiccup, it's getting dark out, we need to make camp, there's a cave about a hundred feet ahead of us. I saw it while scouting near this area a while back. We can rescue the dragons tomorrow, but now, the people need to rest. It's been a rough day." The archer came up beside Hiccup on his left and looked nervously around. "I haven't seen another Viking since we rescued Berk. Something doesn't feel right."

Eret laughed stopping and crossed his arms. "What I find strange is how you appear out of nowhere and suddenly decide to help us for your own reasons, you won't even share your name." The man scowled, his hand glancing towards one of his knives. "I don't brag about my name and skills, Eret son of Eret, greatest dragon trapper alive is it? I know who you are, and for why I am helping?' He paused pointing his finger at Eret. "You just answered your own question hunter, I have my own reasons. I've seen what this village is worth, and I have a personal grudge against the man that attacked your people."

Hiccup stopped then when heard this, he turned careful not to hurt Astrid and stared at the man. "You know who this guys is?' Hiccup said raising an eyebrow. The man laughed, "Why do you think I came here? For the scenery? No, me and my people have been chasing this monster for twenty years. And now I finally have him, his name is Ragnar. He used to be a chieftain of an island not too far from here, but twenty years ago, there was a great gathering-" He was interrupted by Hiccup who looked at him wide eyed. "-a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragons..." The archer removed his hood revealing his regally handsome face.

He had a short pointed beard that was rounded off sharply on his strong chin. His long auburn hair was being blown around his face in the cool wind, his sharp brown eyes stared intently at Hiccup. "I presume your father told you?" Hiccup nodded saying, "He said Drago Bludvist killed everyone!" The man laughed doubling over grabbing his stomach. "An entire room full of well respected chieftains, all master dragon killers and only one escaped?"

Hiccup looked to Eret who leaned against a tree and raised an eyebrow. "No, Hiccup. Two more escped. Ragnar and another, my teacher, and King. He was the leader of the Rangers, but he came home from Berk badly injured, his body covered in burns. And we feared he would never be able to be a Ranger again, but he was resilient. For ten years he told no one what took place at the meeting and let no one leave the island out of fear, not of the dragons, but if the men controlling them. Not even me, but one day, Ragnar attacked one of our weapon strongholds, a small island off our coast. He was overall unsuccessful, but he severely hurt our island by taking hundreds of weapons and burning everything he came across. My teacher was aged, nearing 76 years old, he stepped down from his Ranger duties and gave me the crest." He paused lifting his cloak revealing a pin stuck in the folds.

It was a bronze maple leaf with an intricate symbol engraved in the middle. "He made me leader of the Rangers and I vowed to avenge our island, for ten years I have been searching for this man. And now, I've found him doing the same thing to your island as he did to ours, but yours is far more devastating. That is why I am helping." Eret stood straight with a look of sadness on his face before kneeling in front of the man. Hiccup nodded to him, "I am sorry for your island." The man shrugged putting his hood back over his head as Eret stood. "What's done is done, you can't help the past, but I can help you keep your future."

The man proudly spread his arms before bowing slightly. "Gilian of Aruleun, at your service." Hiccup smiled and gestured to Eret, "I still think we need to make camp in that cave. Its about a mile from Berk and hopefully far away from any of Ragnar's men." Gillian nodded to Eret who looked warily to Hiccup before leading in front of them.

While on the way, Gilian came up beside Hiccup. "You have been carrying her for nearly three miles nonstop, giving her your rations of water and saving your food as well." He said gesturing to Astrid, Hiccup looked down to her still sleeping face. "And I would carry her for another ten miles, and not eat or drink for days if I had to." Hiccup said still walking. Gilian smiled and started taking long steps, "I take it that she is someone special to you?" Hiccup nodded. "She's my friend, my betrothed and my life. I've loved her since I first saw her, but now she's hurt... because of me." Hiccup said solemnly looking down sadly at Astrid.

Gilian stopped and put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "It isn't your fault, you did what you need to do. What happened here, you had no part of. This is Ragnar's fault, not yours. And I know when she wakes, she will say the same thing." Gilian said smiling at him from under the hood. He started to walk ahead but stopped short spinning on his heel turning back around. "Oh, and I would be cautious about angering her. Even I'm scared of her and that axe." Hiccup laughed nervously, the memory of Ragnar breaking the axe still fresh in his mind as Gilian he walked off, following close behind Eret.

Berkian's was starting to get tired until they saw where Eret had led them, to a large cave that would hold them all. Hiccup came beside Eret who was standing at the mouth with his hands on his hips. He looked to Hiccup nervously, "I guess this is a bad time to tell you, but I'm not exactly sure it will hold all of us." Tuffnut came to edge of it and looked at Hiccup raising an eyebrow, "I thought you'd be tired of caves by now! No need to drag us into this." Hiccup rolled his eyes and stepped inside looking around nervously.

Gilian came beside him and took out a small, thin cloth blanket from his cloak placing it on the ground. Hiccup nodded to him gently placing Astrid down upon it, he looked up to Gilian strangly. "You had a blanket in there?" The Ranger shrugged, "I come prepared." Hiccup laughed before leaning down to Astrid a small kiss on the forehead while Berkian's filled the cave.

Hiccup took out Inferno and held it high so everyone could see him. "Listen up!" All eyes turned to him as he stood on a rock overlooking everyone. "I know you are tired, I know you are feeling hopeless, I know a lot of horrible things have happened to you, but I also know you are Berkian's. I know you will fight till your last breath to save this island, I know you will do whatever it takes to save your dragons, and I know we will take down this new threat and make sure he will never hurt anyone ever again!!" The cavern erupted into cheering as Hiccup finished.

They gradually quieted down and some started to fall asleep, Hiccup went over to Astrid and laid on the ground next to her, putting his hand over her protectively. The twins went over to Hiccup and started pestering him. Tuffnut poked his head sitting down crossing his legs, "Hey Hiccup. If we're going to go up against this guy, who has an awesome name by the way, we need a name." Hiccup rolled over and raised an eyebrow. "A name?" Tuffnut laughed putting his hand to the side of his head. "Of course! What are we going to call ourselves when we ride into battle to die!" Tuffnut raised his hand high in the air curled into a fist, Ruffnut bumped his shoulder and pointed towards Hiccup, who had a look of shock on his face.

He put his hand back down and pat Hiccups shoulder. "Not die, I meant to say, 'When we ride into battle to win!!" He said as his hand shot up again. Hiccup rolled his eyes and sat up, "We already have a name, Berkians." Tuffnut sighed and Ruffnut shook her head saying, "No talent whatsoever. So sad." Tuffnut stood up as Hiccup laid back down. "Don't worry Hiccup rest your sleepy head, me and Ruffnut will think of a name." They walked off arguing between each other as Hiccup slipped off into sleep.

Gobber and Valka was sitting out by the cave entrance watching the snow start to fall again. Valka looked back to Hiccup who cuddled closer to Astrid and Valka laughed to herself. "She will be so surprised when she wakes up, I'm still surprised honestly." Gobber shook his head laughing, "Aye, she'll be surprised alright, right after she gets done beatin' him to a grain of sand for leaving." Valka nodded watching the moon rise. Gilian walked over and sat down with them on Gobber's right. "You're his mother?" He said gesturing to Valka.

She nodded saying, "Aye, that I am, but I haven't been a very good one." Gilian snickered resting his hand in his knee. "Looks like you done a fine job." He said glancing over to Hiccup.." Right now is just. . . difficult. For all of us." Gobber chuckled and stood up starting to walk away. "Tell me about it, I'm going to get some shut eye. Tomorrow will certainly be a looong day." Valka watched him hobble off, his wooden leg making a hollow thunk on the stone.

Gilian shook his head frowning. "You people are tough, but I don't think that's enough." Valka looked over to him raising an eyebrow. "Oh no? We might be small, but I've seen this village do things that most only dream of. Berk has changed so much since I... left." She paused clearing her throat. "And we will make it out of this. We have to." She said looking down scratching the ground with the end of her staff, leaving full scrapes on the stone. Gilian looked to her cautiously, "I don't know much about this island nor its people, but I watched them fall apart under the lead of Alvin, who gave them what they wanted and they still failed. Who's to say they won't do it to Hiccup."

Valka stood up bracing herself against her staff, "I won't say anything for Berk, the people will choose what they want, but as you said, they saw what happened when they got what they want. I don't think they will try to do that again." She left him going over to lay on the ground near Hiccup and Astrid. Gilian smiled laughing, "I thought you could use some motivation. I just hope they're ready, it's not going to be easy." He said softly as he laid down and drifted off to sleep.


	13. Ragnar’s Redemption

Hiccup woke early the next morning to the sound of hundred's of Viking's snoring in their sleep. He sat up slowly rubbing his eyes, the sun barley peeking into the cave. He turned to look at Astrid who was curled up beside him with her hands resting under her head. Hiccup gently shook her, hopeful she would wake. She laid there motionless and Hiccup sighed putting his hands on his head. He gently leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips, brushing her bangs from her face. "Please wake up soon, I need you." He said softly giving her a kiss on the forehead.

He turned to stand when he heard a soft groan escape Astrid's lips. His eyes widening in surprise Hiccup leaned down lightly shaking her shoulder, "Astrid? Are you awake?" He asked, his voice full of concern. Astrid's eyes fluttered open and she saw Hiccup through squinted eyes. "Hi- Hiccup?" She said groggily, her face frowning in confusion. Hiccup let out a short breath and took her hand, "Astrid, it's me. I'm here, I missed you so much." He wrapped her in a hug and held her close to him. Astrid leaned back to stare at him. "You- you're here?" She said confusedly, not fully awake.

Hiccup looked at her smiling, softly brushing her hair. "Yes, I'm here Astrid. It's me." Astrid's eyes grew wide turning from confusion to surprise, she quickly threw herself at him smashing her lips against his. Grabbing the back of his head and chest, Astrid pushed Hiccup to the ground sitting on his waist and continued to passionately kiss him running her hand through his hair. Astrid pulled away breathless and grabbed his face in her hands."Where have you been! Do you know what I've been through without you!? I thought you was dead!" Hiccup started to answer when Astrid leaned down and kissed him again, quieting him.

Hiccup laid there in shock before returning the kiss and putting his hands on her waist and ran his hand up to her shoulders, sending a shiver through Astrid's body. Astrid pulled away and looked down to him angrily, Hiccup frowned and sat up. "What?" He said blushing, Astrid replied by punching him on the shoulder. Hiccup screamed in pain, but was quieted by Astrid covering his mouth. "Where have you been?!" Hiccup got a confused look on his face, "I thought you was angry about me... never mind. I got out of those caves, I trained the Skrill, and all of Berserker island is headed this way. We're going to take back the island, together." Astrid looked around her before rubbing the back of her neck. "Oh, I remember now. What happened, is everyone ok?" Hiccup nodded grabbing her hand sitting up.

"Everyone is fine, Astrid, I'm so sorry." He leaned forward kissing her neck softly, going to where the bruise was, his hands running down her back. Astrid sighed, feeling a warmth coursing through her entire body. Hiccup pulled back and stared lovingly into her eyes. "Astrid I love you so much, and I will never leave you again. I promise." Astrid smiled with tears in her eyes, leaning towards him to hold him close.

Hiccup leaned back with Astrid resting on top of him, kissing him Astrid rolled off and laid close beside him, felling his warmth beside her. Astrid gently placed her hand on his cheek and Hiccup grabbed it kissing her palm. "Astrid, as soon as this is over, I want to get married. No more waiting, no more worrying about the future, because you are my future. I can't see going any farther without you being with me for eternity, I love you Astrid Hofferson." He said softly leaning in and kissing her gently on the lips.

Astrid smiled as Hiccup grabbed her waist and pulled her on top of him, she leaned back and stared at him mischievously. "Did you miss me?" She said placing her hands on his chest, Hiccup laughed grabbing her head and pulling her towards him. She smiled seductively at him running her hand down his chest. "Prove it." He rested his head on her chest hearing her heart beat wildly, he slowly traced his hand up her side sending a shiver through her body, his fingertips gliding over her body. Going up to her head he pulled her down to kiss her when someone cleared their throat beside them.

Hiccup and Astrid both jumped and saw Valka standing here with a small grin on her face. "I see that Astrid is awake." Astrid climbed off Hiccup blushing, her face as red as her shirt. Hiccup smiled sheepishly, "Uh yeah. She's awake, I didn't know you was though." Valka smiled putting her hands on her hips, "Astrid, I'm glad you're up. And Hiccup, good morning." She said smiling before walking away. Hiccup looked over to Astrid who smiled sheepishly and blushed. Hiccup got up and helped Astrid to her feet, giving her a hug before grabbing Gilian's blanket from the floor. Astrid frowned at him, "Where did you get that?" She asked pointing to the blanket.

Hiccup started to say something when Gilian himself walked over, "That would be mine." He said taking the blanket from Hiccup, Astrid frowned pointing to Gilian. "Who is that?" Gilian laughed folding the blanket into a small square. "My name is Gilian of Aurleun, and I saved your boyfriend and the entire village from Ragnar. You're welcome." He said tucking the now folded blanket into his coat before giving a small bow. Astrid nodded and turned to Hiccup whispering, "Can we trust him?" Hiccup nodded grabbing her hand. "He saved my life twice, and the entire village. He's from an island far away that got attacked by the same man. He would stop at nothing to get revenge, and if we go down fighting, I'd rather go down with him helping."

Astrid nodded turning back towards Gilian. "So, what now?" Gilian shrugged and gestured towards Hiccup, who was refilling Inferno's canisters. "He's the man with the plan, ask him. I only shoot people, and avenge islands." Astrid rolled her eyes and walked over to Hiccup crossing her arms. "So what is the plan?" Hiccup smiled and put Inferno back on it's holster, "We wait for Heather and Dagur to get here first, they should be here around noon. Then we use the tunnels under the island to get around, we attack hard, grab the dragons, and disappear again. Get in, and get out, as fast as possible. They aren't near the center of the island, so we can gather supplies there. I assume they're camping near the Northern mountains, its where they would be most fortified using all the caves and tree cover."

Astrid nodded frowning, "You make it seem so easy just talking about it, but if it's like all your other plans, it won't be that easy." Hiccup rolled his eyes smiling. Slowly the other Berkian's started waking up and walking around, Hiccup stood up on the same rock as the night before and called out to everyone. "Ok, we're going to split into three groups. One led by me, Astrid, and Gilian, another led by Valka, Gobber and Heather, and the last led by the other Riders and Dagur." The villagers all nodded and separated into three nearly equal groups, each with about 75 Viking's in each.

Hiccup cleared his throat and continued. "We will use the tunnels under the island once we get to the center of Berk to sneak up on Rangar and his army, we gather as much supplies we can and attack. Each group will grab as many dragons as they can and will return to the caves and head back to Berk and wait for the other groups. We will take back our island, and prove we are a people who can't be defeated!" The cave erupted into cheering as Hiccup stepped down.

(1)As Hiccup was heading out of the cave, he was stopped by the twins who blocked his path. Tuffnut stepped forward grabbing Hiccups shoulders, "Ok H. We thought of a name in our sleep using our Twintuition. And we think you're going to like this.' He paused as he and Ruffnut spoke at the same time. "Justice League of the Archipelago!!" They said throwing their hands in the air proudly, Hiccup looked at them unamused. Tuffnut grabbed a boy from the crowd and showed him to Hiccup. "Me and Ruffnut have decided this young man should lead us, his name is Amaury and he has a Deadly Nadder called Spitfire. He's good looking, ruthless, and curses like a drunk Viking on a sinking ship. He's perfect!!"

The boy stared at Hiccup hopefully, who just sighed and walked past them. "Guys, we don't need a team name or a team leader. I just need you two to try and not ruin this, can you do that for me?" Hiccup walked off and Amaury's shoulder's drooped, Tuffnut patted him on the head leading him back to the crowd. "Don't worry Amaury, you'll get your time. Maybe even your own book of your great heroics!" They walked back to the group where Snotlout was arguing with Eret about the best way to kill a hunter.

The three groups headed out of the cave and started the slow walk towards Berk. Hiccup and Astrid walked side by side holding each others hand, smiles on their faces as they walked reunited once again. They reached the edge of Berk around noon and Hiccup stopped at the edge of the forest peeking out. Seeing no one, Hiccup gestured for everyone to follow him he led them to the forge and they all quietly started to gather weapons and shields while Hiccup went to his hut with Astrid following close behind him. He reached his hut and slowly opened the door, the Skrill lying on the ground fast asleep. Astrid's eyes went wide as he went over and pet its head trying to wake it up.

The Skrill's eyes slowly opened and saw Hiccup sitting beside him, it let out a happy roar and nuzzled closer to him. Standing up, Hiccup led it out the door to the others, who all gasped at the sight. Hiccup smiled as they made a path for him as he headed to the edge of the cliff, looking out for Heather. Squinting in the bright sun, he saw them approaching, a giant flock of dragons and Riders headed straight for them. Hiccup smiled turning to Astrid, "Right on time."

Valka came to stand beside Astrid looking intently at the Skrill, running her hand down its neck. "Marvelous, such a magnificent dragon. What is its name?" She asked glancing up to Hiccup, who shrugged. "I honestly haven't even thought of one yet." He said looking down to the Skrill. "Hmm, how about Volos?" The Skrill let out a roar and all nearby Viking's jumped back away from it. "Volos it is then." Hiccup said smiling, leaning down to pet its head.

They waited until Heather and about 200 other Beserkian's landed near the Great Hall, Viking's all around began chatting and talking as Astrid ran up to Heather, giving her a big hug. Dagur jumped off Sluether and walked over to Hiccup who climbed off Volos, clapping him on the back. "Hello brother! I haven't seen you since chapter 9! It's nice seeing you and not wanting to kill you!" Hiccup laughed nervously and backed away with a confused look on his face, Fishlegs walked over to Heather and started to give her a hug but stopped, instead giving her an awkward handshake. Tuffnut ran over to Heather with a look of worry on his face, "How's our island? Have you taken good care of it?" Heather rolled her eyes as Dagur walked beside her putting an arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry Tuffnut, me and Heather have made sure the island is very safe before leaving." Tuffnut let out a big breath and put a hand to his head, "Phew. I've been worried."

Hiccup walked over to them and told them the plan, telling them to leave their dragons in the Great Hall to keep them safe. After all the dragons was hidden away and every Viking was carrying swords, they began the slow descent into the caves near where the Dragon Hanger used to be. Each group had about 100 Vikings with each of them, some given lanterns and lights. Giving one last look, Hiccup stepped inside the dark and dusty cave leading his group with Astrid behind him. They followed the caves getting closer to their destination before coming across a ladder going up into a food storage shed. The group went up slowly one by one until there was none left in the caves, opening the door cautiously, Hiccup peeked outside looking for anyone near.

Seeing no one Hiccup motioned for everyone to follow him quietly, stepping through the soft snow they reached the first group of cages, all covered with blankets. Gilian crept up beside Hiccup gripping the handle of his sword nervously. "Hiccup, something isn't right. We have to go. Now." Hiccup brushed him off and grabbed the first blanket he reached. Taking a deep breath he pulled it off, revealing a Deadly Nadder lying dead on the floor of the cage, its throat slit. Hiccup dropped the blanket and stumbled back, his face stricken with horror, when a voice cried out. "You should have listened to your archer friend Hiccup Haddock, now you are all going to die!" Hiccup turned to see Ragnar standing on a ledge over looking them, he spread his hands over them, his mask turned towards the sky. "Begin."

As soon as he said this the blankets was torn from the cages and Viking's poured out of every one. All carrying an assortment of weapons, Hiccup yelled in fury racing towards Ragnar. Gilian started to notch and arrow aiming for Ragnar, but was blocked by a man with a spear, making him resort to close quarter combat. The man only lasted a moment before Gilian stabbed him in the side killing the man instantly, he turned and ducked under a axe swinging for his head and sliced open a mans chest, blood spilling to the ground. Dagur went to work with his sword, loping off limbs and heads of anyone who came near him, blood covering his clothes and arms, all the while laughing maniacally.

Heather and Astrid fought side by side leaving no Viking standing as they flipped and jumped over everyone, cutting down anyone foolish enough to face them. Gobber smashed and clobbered with his bludgeon hand, smashing skulls and crushing ribs while Valka has taken up a sword and made her stand by the other riders, all killing without mercy. Berkian's roared as they charged the men, all raising their weapons high. Swords rang and shields crashed as the two armies clashed, Hiccup weaved through the carnage killing as many as he could, slicing and cutting with Inferno. He finally broke through and stood before Ragnar, breathing heavily. Ragnar smiled taking his knives out, "Round two. Fight!!" He screamed as he charged Hiccup.

They exchanged blow after blow, sparks flying between the two. Hiccup was slowly pushed backwards to the edge of the ledge, his foot dangerously close to the edge. Hiccup glanced to his side to see the other groups be herded into one, the riders all joining being forced back by sheer numbers. Heather looked up to see Hiccup fighting and she shouted something at him that was lost in the wind, Hiccup lost focus and was cut across the arm. Screaming in pain he dropped Inferno and stumbled backwards, off the ledge, falling to the ground below him. He landed on his back in the cold snow, groaning in pain he writhed on the ground. Looking up he saw Ragnar grab Inferno and lift it high, the entire battle stopped as he jumped from the ledge stabbing down to Hiccup.

Time slowed as Heather raced towards Hiccup lying helpless on the ground, diving towards Ragnar she smashed into him midair, both of them falling to the ground in a heap. Hiccup quickly jumped to his feet, and running to Ragnar he kicked Inferno away from him. Hiccup smashed him in the face knocking him unconscious, blood squirting from his now broken nose. Hearing a cry, Hiccup kneeled down next to Heather who was screaming and turned her over, she grimaced as Hiccup saw why she was screaming, Inferno was sticking through her stomach.

The battle raged around them as Hiccup sat next to her, "Its ok. It's ok, you're going to be ok." Hiccup said grabbing her hand, staring at her worriedly. Heather coughed blood and squeezed Hiccups hand. "Tell Dagur to stay strong." Hiccup shook his head, gently grabbing her face. "No, no. You're going to be fine, jus- just stay with me!" Heather smiled faintly, "Hiccup, it's ok. I know." She said softly, grabbing his hand, her bright green eyes filling with tears. "Tell Fishlegs-" She suddenly lurched forward going into a coughing fit. She groaned in pain falling back to the ground, blood staining the white snow. "Tell Fishlegs I loved him, and I want him to move on. Th- thank you Hiccup, for everything." She took a deep breath, her chest rising one last time, before she slowly let it out, breathing her last. Her hand went limp as her eyes stared up at the sky.

Hiccups tears fell to the ground as he cried over her dead body, Ragnar stirred behind him shakily standing up. Reaching down for Inferno he raised the blade over Hiccup, he stabbed downward silently. The blow was intercepted by Fishlegs who held a knife in hand and blocked it on the small blade. He grunted pushing Ragnar back, who fell to the ground before standing up growling. Seeing his army fail, he fled into the woods disappearing. The last of the Vikings surrendered as they was defeated, all of Berk erupted into cheer raising their weapons high.

Fishlegs walked over to Hiccup as if in a trance, looking down at Heather he dropped to his knees and grabbed her hand. "Oh Heather. Come back to me, please!!" He cried into the frozen air, Hiccup grabbed his shoulder. "Fishlegs, she's gone. I'm so sorry." Fishlegs cried leaning down putting his head against hers, Astrid walked over and gasped putting her hand over her mouth. Running to Hiccup's side she kneeled to the ground beside him. Putting her head on his shoulder she cried, the tears running down her face. Hiccup turned when he heard Dagur cry out, "Heather! Did you see that! We won, now we can go back home!" He came through the crowd and saw Heather lying on the ground, his smile disappeared as he ran over to them dropping to his knees grabbing her hand. "Heather! No, don't do this to me! I- I can't live without you... Heather!" He raised his head and cried out, all of Berk shedding tears over the loss.

Gilian came up behind Hiccup gesturing him to follow, Hiccup slowly stood up before Gilian led him down a path. He reached a clearing where groups of tents was set up and fire pits was scattered everywhere. "This must have been their base, but not everyone was in that battle." Gilian said as Hiccup raised and eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked looking around for more Viking's. Gilian took him to a elegant tent near the middle that was adorned with furs. He lited the tent flap and gestured Hiccup to go inside.

Hiccup walked in and saw a young man sitting on the ground, he had black hair and pale skin, his face turned to the ground. His hands and feet bound in rope and a tie over his mouth. Hiccup turned to Gilian confused, "Who is this?" Gilian walked over to the boy grabbing his hair and pulling up his face. Gilian grew a scowl and turned to Hiccup, "This is Bjorn, Ragnar's son, and he's going to help us." Hiccup's face turned to doubt, "How do you know?" The boy spit out the rag and frowned at him. "Because I told him, and if you ever want to save your village and dragons. You need me."


	14. The Calm Before The Storm

Heather's funeral was held the same day as her death. The body was carried back to Berk by Meatlug, with Fishlegs riding behind it. The prye was made out of pure silver metal and shone brightly in the sun. Every rider came to stand beside the prye to pay their last respect by Fishlegs. A single tear dropped onto Heather's cheek. It rolled down her neck, soaking into her shirt.

Dagur walked up to the prye, laying their father's horn on her chest. He kneeled down in front of her, his head turned towards the ground. Fishlegs grabbed a bag from Meatlug's side and slowly opened it, pulling out the bracelet. He leaned down, kissed her lightly, and put the bracelet on her wrist. "See you in Valhalla."

Astrid held Hiccup's hand as she silently cried while the twins both removed their helmets and stood by Snotlout, all frowning in sadness. Fishlegs and Dagur shoved the boat from the docks and watched it slowly drift into the bay. Giving the speech, Dagur was the first to raise his lit arrow and fire at the boat. After it went ablaze the burning tips of hundred's Viking arrows raised into the air as they all gave their silent last words.

Astrid walked over to Fishlegs who was crying to himself, his tears falling to the snow leaving holes in the soft powder. She rested her hand on his shoulder and looked at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. "Fishlegs, I'm so sorry. I know how hard this must be for you." Fishlegs nodded wiping his eyes, "I should have done more for her. I was so worried what others might think and when I should have been worrying about what she wanted. Now I'll never know." He let out a sob as he put his hands to his face covering his eyes. Astrid started to say something but was stopped when Dagur walked over to them, "Fishlegs." He said tapping his shoulder, Fishlegs looked to him his eyes red and puffy. "You know, I might have only had a sister for a few years, but even I could tell she loved you. And I think she would want you to not cry over her death, but celebrate her living."

Fishlegs wiped his nose and stood up straight, "You're right Dagur. She would want that." He turned to Hiccup smiling, "Ok Hiccup. It's time to take Ragnar down, and you are the only one who can do that." Hiccup smiled shaking his head as Astrid walked over to him.

"No Fishlegs, I started this whole trying to be a Chieftain, but that isn't working out. I forgot one very important detail. In all of this war and dragon raids, I forgot what made me proud to be the Chieftain." Hiccup turned around facing the hundreds of Vikings who were all watching him expectantly, "So what do you say, great warriors of Berk? Will we defend our very pride?"

After the cheers of many Vikings filled the area, Hiccup led them out, saying words that will be remembered in history for a long time to come;

"People of Berk! Tonight we regain control over the battlefield! Tonight, we show him what we stand for! For the dragons, and for the people!"

Gilian walked over to Hiccup and gestured over to the Great Hall, "What about our 'special visitor'?" Hiccup sighed pulling him away from the crowd. "I don't want to trust him, but if he can help us win this fight, then he might be our only chance." Gilian grimaced nodding as they walked to the steps and opened the door to find Bjorn staring at the decaying body of Alvin. He saw them come in and gestured to Alvin, "Is this what your island calls politics? I thought you cavemen were smarter than that." He said laughing at his own joke, Hiccup growled, his hand flinching towards Inferno, but Gilian grabbed his wrist and shook his head. Hiccup took a deep breath as he stepped closer to Bjorn, "No. This is what your dear old dad considers payback." Bjorn suddenly slammed his hands on the arms of the throne and turned to Hiccup, his eyes flaring with anger.

"He is not my dad!!" Hiccup turned to Gilian who glanced down at Inferno nervously, leaning close he whispered to Hiccup. "You might want to keep that actually." Hiccup gulped and turned back towards Bjorn, who was leaning over breathing heavily. "What do you mean? I thought you said he was your father." Bjorn took up and took a deep breath standing up straight. "He might be my father, but he isn't my dad, your dad doesn't steal you from your home and kill your mother in cold blood just for having a child." He paused walking closer to Hiccup getting right in his face, sneering at him. "Your dad doesn't keep you locked away for 18 years not letting you do no more than eat and sleep. He is not my dad."

Hiccup took a step back and let out a breath he'd been holding in. "I'm sorry, but if you help us, we can stop your father. And he'll never hurt anyone again." Bjorn shook his head an walked in a circle pacing the floor, he paused turning to Hiccup scowling. "And what do I get out of it?" Hiccup looked to Gilian who sneered and stepped towards Bjorn, raising his knife to his throat. "You get to live." He said menacingly, Bjorn laughed and pushed his arm away. "Go ahead, kill me. Then you will lose and your entire island will die with you." He said raising his arms in the air smiling. Gilian growled before letting out a breath and stepped back, sheathing his knife. "Fine, let's do this your way. What do you want?" Bjorn smiled going over to the smashed table picking a piece of dirt from it flicking it with his fingers.

"I want gold, enough to last me my lifetime and never have to worry about the future again. A boat, so I can sail as far away from here as possible. Lastly, I want to be forgotten. You don't say a word about me to anyone or what I did, my father has friends, and I don't want to make my presence known to them, unlike you." Gilian looked to Hiccup who nodded grimacing. "Deal." Hiccup said reaching out to shake his hand, Bjorn looked down at him before a frown grew on his face. "How do I know I can trust you." Hiccup frowned and stood up straight, "You're looking at the chieftain of Berk, and the head of Aruleun's Rangers.You have no one more respected than us to trust than us." Bjorn's face stayed motionless as he looked from Hiccup to Gilian before grabbing Hiccup's outstretched hand. "Deal."

Two Days Later-

The island was in its most productive state in nearly eight months, with every able Viking forging weapons and gathering food. After the body of the dead Vikings from the war and Alvin was burned, the Great Hall was cleaned and turned into the base of operations as the battle plans were made. With Bjorn telling all he knew about Ragnar's battle tactics and vast resources, Ragnar and the rest of his army were camping on a small island just off the coast of Berk, so when the Screaming Death came through, they wouldn't be affected. Then Hiccup asked Bjorn what he has been thinking about since he saw Ragnar, "How does Ragnar have a Screaming Death scale?" Bjorn frowned and turned pacing, "He knows things about it that helps him get close to it, he doesn't talk about it and he kills all who ask him."

Hiccup frowned putting his hand on his chin thoughtfully, Bjorn shrugged and sat on the edge of the table. "I don't think it's a big issue, it's not like he can control it." Hiccup's eyes went wide and looked worriedly at Bjorn. "Can he? Control it?" Bjorn again shrugged and laid back. "Pfft, I don't know, but if he did. You're island would already be destroyed, why would he want to take out the entire archipelago?" Hiccup looked at him unconvinced and picked the final battle plans from the table heading towards the door. Bjorn sat up suddenly and called out to him, "Oh! One last thing, uh, is that Ruffnut girl betrothed?" Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks nearly dropping the plans. "What?" Bjorn blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, is she in a relationship with anyone?" Hiccup started to smiled and laughed. "No, definitely not."

Bjorn let out a breath and tilted his head back. "Phew, good. I saw her with that Eret guy and they looked like they was doing something... strange." Hiccup laughed and put his hand on the door. "I think I'll regret asking, but what was they doing?" Bjorn looked up thoughtfully before shuddering, "She was trying to shove him in a giant pit full of boars. He obviously didn't want to, but I was into it." Hiccup laughed doubling over and pushed the door open, light flooding the room. "Don't worry about him, I don't think he will ever do that, but if you ever do get her to like you, you might not get her off your back." Bjorn smiled, "No, I think it's the other way around, I'd want her on my front, not back." Hiccup frowned before realizing what he said walking out the door. "Oh jeez, too far." Bjorn laughed and turned to go into the Chieftains quarters where he was residing.

Hiccup walked into his hut and opened the plans on his desk, analyzing every detail and running every possibility through his head. He jumped when he heard the door open behind him, looking back he saw Astrid come through the door smiling. "Am I that scary?" She asked rolling her eyes at him. Hiccup laughed and turned back to the plans, "Only when you want to be." Astrid laughed and stepped beside him rubbing his shoulders looking over him at the plans. "Wow, that looks really impressive. Will it work?" Hiccup looked up at her smiling, "There's only one real way to find out." Astrid let out a sigh and leaned down to kiss him, reaching up Hiccup grabbed her head and pulled her closer deepening the kiss.

Astrid straightened up and pulled his hand, getting him out of the chair. "I really missed you Hiccup, I don't think I'm ever going to let you out of my sight again." Hiccup smiled wrapping a hand around her waist, "Good. Because I don't think I'm ever going to let you out of my arms again." He said kissing her lightly on the lips, Astrid put her hands on his shoulder and pushed down, making the chair tip backwards sending Hiccup flying. He landed hard on his back wheezing for air while Astrid nearly fell over laughing, reaching her hand down to help him up Hiccup pulled her down on top of him. Rolling over, he stood over the top of her, hands on either side of her head, he leaned down to kiss her when the door was flung open.

Tuffnut stormed in but froze when he saw them lying on the floor, raising an eyebrow he crossed his arms. "What do you two think you're doing?" Hiccup and Astrid both blushed as they stood up, Hiccup quickly turned the chair back over and smiled sheepishly at Tuffnut who begun tapping his foot. "Well?" He said gesturing to them, Astrid blushed deeper and sat down on the bed. "We weren't doing anything, really." Tuffnut rolled his eyes and started out the door before Hiccup stopped him. "Hey, why did you even come here?" Tuffnut turned around quickly and pointed at Hiccup. "Ah ha! So you wanted to be alone! 'Nothing' indeed. Honestly, I thought you two were better than this."

Astrid put her hand to her face as Hiccup sighed. "What do you want Tuffnut?" Tuffnut took out a paper and handed it to Hiccup, "This came tied to the leg of a Terrible Terror, a note from Ragnar." Hiccup frowned taking it and reading it out loud to Astrid. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III, last warning. Surrender yourselves to me and my army by nightfall of tomorrow, or you will all die. Sincerely, Ragnar." Hiccup paused, his voice catching before reading the next line. "Drago Bludvist sends his regards." Astrid raised his hand to her mouth gasping, "Hiccup. If he's teamed up with Drago..." Hiccup finished her sentence looking up worriedly. "Then we have to face the two most powerful men in the world, with almost no dragons, and only half of the entire village." Tuffnut's mouth dropped open and his hands dropped to his sides. "And you two are in here-" Astrid and Hiccup jumped up and screamed at him. "Tuffnut!!"

Hiccup gathered the council in the Great Hall to discuss their plans. "We can't give up! We have to fight, those men have taken too much from us to just surrender, and it's about time we get our dragons back!" Spitelout said frowning smacking his hands on the table. Hiccup nodded looking around before putting his hands to his head. "I feel like were back where we began, immeasurable odds and no one knows anything to do! Yes, we need to avenge our island and get out dragons back, but how many lives are we willing to risk? We've lost so many to these men, and now those two have teamed up, we face no chance of winning." Everyone's heads turned down as Hiccup's words sank in. Spitelout spoke up first, his face etched with worry. "So what? We just give up? After all we've done, after all we've been through. Your right lad, this nightmare is happening again, but this time, you have Berk. And we have you, we have to try."

Hiccup looked up shaking his head. "No, I can't let you all die because you are being stubborn." Gobber stood up at this and came to stand beside Hiccup. "Lad, a great man once said to everyone in this room. We're Viking's, it's an occupational hazard. We will fight, no matter what." He paused putting his hand on Hiccup's shoulder, who turned his head to look at him sadly. "Gobber, we can't win this one." Gobber's smile faded as he stepped back and started to the door. "I didn't say we would win, I said we would fight and I'm going to take as many of their men as I can with me. And if I die, I can't think of a better reason to die for." He said this solemly as he walked out the door, his hallow steps echoing out the hall, leaving the room completely silent as they stared at Hiccup.

Hiccup raised his head and looked at the faces around him, before thinking of his father and the risks he took before making his decision. "I can't make you fight for this island, but if you do, I will be there fighting along side you the entire way. Here and now I might be a Chieftain, but out there I'm the same as any of you. I will fight, bleed, and die the same as all of you if that' what fate decides." The council looked to one another before all of them raised their arms in the air and shouted in unision. "For Berk!!" Hiccup smiled grabbing Inferno and lighting it, rasing it high into the air and shouting to the crowd. "We might not be able to stop them, but we will make them bleed, and when they see us coming, they will know who we are, we are Viking's. We are Berk!


End file.
